These Things We're Not Allowed To Do
by Dark'nLightAngel
Summary: Sixteen year old James, Sirius and Remus have been thrown into an alternate, twisted dimension where the worlds of Reality and Harry Potter collide. Full Summary Inside. Inspired by the list of Things I'm Not Allowed to do at Hogwarts. R&R!
1. Prologue

**Summary – **_Sixteen year old_ _James, Sirius and Remus have been thrown into an alternate, twisted dimension where the worlds of Reality and Harry Potter collide. Imagine all the insanity they can get into armed with a knowledge from the Books and Muggle technology—And still very mischievous minds—inside not only Hogwarts grounds, but the magical world._

Inspired by the infamous list of 586/807 things I'm not allowed to do at Hogwarts; I decided I wanted to write a fic with some of these insane things happened and deigned that Sirius and James would be the best puppets for this sort of thing. Feel free to chime in with ideas along the way!

Ready? Here we go!

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Harry Potter (J.K Rowling), or the List (kupika's Demonic_Angel and a multitude of others). I'm simply using them for my amusement and the amusement of others._

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**Prologue**

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It had been a quiet, peaceful day for the Marauders. At least, three of them. Peter was stuck up in the Hospital Wing after an incident with Mrs. Norris an hour before; thus leaving his three best mates to wander the castle by themselves, half-heartedly plotting revenge on the mangy feline. Truth was, the incident was so repetitive that it had grown boring to play out anymore.

That was what led James and Sirius to the discussion of just how boring things were becoming around Hogwarts. It wasn't like they hadn't pranked _everyone_ in the school; and you could only pick on the First Years so much before being threatened with much more than a detention. Neither of the two main trouble-makers were very keen on revisiting the situations in which James' parents had been called in to deal with the boys (the Blacks steadfastly refused to have anything to do with Sirius these days). Mr. Potter always left them swearing and promising never to prank another day in their life—Not that it ever stuck after they could sit without wincing again.

"All I'm saying is that it would be nice if things would get more exciting around here! I mean, term ends in a week and all but..." Sirius raised his arms in a helpless shrug, "What all will really be different during Sixth Year?"

"I know, Padfoot. But you know what they say, time reveals new things." James told him in a weak attempt at reassuring, "We'll probably come up with loads of things to do next year during the summer."

"Right...I just really wish we'd get some excitement in our lives. Really crazy, you know?"

It was at that time that something caught Remus' attention and he turned his head to the side curiously, "Uh, guys?"

"Yeah, Moony?" James turned around, a slightly irritated Sirius mimicking him but both wearing curious expressions at the tone of their friends' words.

"What is it?"

"A new door just materialized." The werewolf pointed at the fairly large and entricate double door taking up a large portion of the corridor wall before opening up the Map and taking a look, "And it's not on here."

"New territory, eh?" Sirius brightened up and strided towards the door, "Let's take a look!"

"Sounds like fun." James immediately agreed and started up after him, both pausing at the protest from the third in the party.

"You can't just waltz through any old doorway here! We went through this when we made the map; Just because Hogwarts is the safest place in Britain doesn't make everything inside it _safe_." Remus sighed, running a hand through his hair agitatedly, "We should get a Professor or—"

"Oh, come off it Moony. No one knows everything about the Castle and more likely than not we'll be shooed off somewhere if we tell someone else." Sirius huffed, crossing his arms and turning towards the doors, "Besides, Hogwarts _obviously_ showed it to us for a reason. Just look at the designs on the door!"

He had a point. There was an intricate drawing of the four animagus forms of the Marauders; if a bit strange. First, there was a wolf howling up at a full moon on a hill by Hogwarts. Nearby, a dog was lying with his paws over his head as if blocking out the noise from the wolf's howling—The area around him distinctly in the shadow of the castle. In the middle of the picutre, a great stag was laying on the ground and appeared to be sleeping while not far away a doe lay in a similar position with a wide-eyed fawn poking out just from behind her. Off to the side, a rat could be seen darting away from the entire scene towards the Forbidden Forest where the outline of a snake could be seen.

"...And this is supposed to be an encouraging sight?" Remus asked dryly, but was ignored by James who voiced a question of who the doe and fawn were, as well as the snake.

"Look, it's meant for us so we should go in." Sirius told them both with an air of finality, grasping hold of the door and pushing it open.

None of them were prepared for what happened next. As soon as the doors were opened, a large gust of wind swept through the corridor and all but flung the three teens forward through the doorway. It flashed with light and their yells were abruptly cut off as the doors closed again and vanished without a trace.


	2. Chapter I

**Summary – **_Sixteen year old_ _James, Sirius and Remus have been thrown into an alternate, twisted dimension where the worlds of Reality and Harry Potter collide. Imagine all the insanity they can get into armed with a knowledge from the Books and Muggle technology—And still very mischievous minds—inside not only Hogwarts grounds, but the magical world._

Inspired by the infamous list of 586/807 things I'm not allowed to do at Hogwarts; I decided I wanted to write a fic with some of these insane things happening and deigned that Sirius and James would be the best puppets for this sort of thing. Feel free to chime in with ideas along the way!

Just to make things clear; I'm going by the Lexicon's time line for ages and dates and what-not. I know there's a lot of muddled answers in that area, so I'm just gonna stick to this time line as best I can. If anyone comes up with anything more accurate or can help me figure out ages, birth dates and what-not, it is most welcomed! Also, since this is a mixed world I'm moving up the book publishings.

The fun probably won't really start for a chapter or two with the list items. The boys need to figure out their situation and stuff before the real insanity can begin. I'll try not to make it so slow, though! Scouts honor!

Ready? Here we go!

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Harry Potter (J.K Rowling), or the List (kupika's Demonic_Angel and a multitude of others). I'm simply using them for my amusement and the amusement of others._

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**Chapter I**

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Never would a day come afterward that Remus wouldn't take the opportunity to remind his two best friends just why they should listen to him more often.

Sirius, James, and Remus screamed and clasped their hands together tightly as they found themselves flying through a vortex of various colors and lighting. Pictures, visions and scenes swirled around them faster than the eye could see. A glimpse here or there of boys and girls reading various books, witches and wizards doing spell work, several battles. It was all so confusing and disturbing at the same time—Not to mention the clear feeling of apparation that made one think they were being squeezed through a very small tube.

When the boys were finally spit back out of the vortex, it was not in familiar settings at all. In fact, it wasn't even in magical settings. They found themselves sprawled on the ground together in the far reaches of an entirely too-big book store. Much larger than Flourish and Blotts, at least.

The section they had been dumped into was entirely deserted and, as Remus detangled himself from the other two boys, eerily silent. Further inspection gave way to the thought that the store was currently closed—All the lights were off and there didn't seem to be a single person in sight. It was with this in mind that he turned around and hissed for the other two, who were groaning and complaining rather loudly, to _shut up_. Both boys noted the irritated tone in their friend's voice and obligingly snapped their mouths closed before accepting help to their feet. Without a second thought, Sirius whipped out his wand and shed some light on their situation—Much to Remus and James' dismay.

"Padfoot, put that out! What are you thinking?!" Remus hissed, while James shook his head.

"We don't know where we are, Padfoot, we can't be doing underaged magic without a second thought!" He tried to explain calmly, gesturing around them, "What if we're in a muggle neighborhood? I certainly don't want to get my wand snapped!"

"Well, that's the point isn't it? We don't know where we are and the quickest way to resolve this all is to get some attention from the Ministry." Sirius huffed, crossing his arms but obediently putting his wand out, "Besides, it's too bloody dark in here. I can't see a thing."

"Of course it's dark in here, we're in the middle of a bookstore that's obviously closed right now—Which probably means it's night time." Remus told him in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. "I bet if we get out from between these book shelves and near the windows there'll be more light. Come on."

With that, the werewolf turned on his heel and led the way to the end of the passage, only pausing when James stumbled over something and let out a loud curse as he hit the ground. The two boys ahead of him turned around to find the messy haired male on the ground holding his foot and glaring at a thick hard-cover book that lay open on the ground before him. Worried, Sirius kneeled beside him while Remus picked up the book and examined it curiously.

"Alright, Prongs?" Pushing the others' hands away from his ankle, the young Black heir pulled up his friend's pant leg to squint at the skin beneath.

"I think I twisted it."

"Can you walk? We're not going to be able to do much without being able to see." The honey brunette asked, turning his attention from the book to his friends with a worried frown. It wouldn't be good to have one of them injured right now; especially if they really were trespassing in a muggle book store.

"Ah... Yeah. Yeah, I should be able to. Might need some help, though." James nodded, waiting for Sirius to straighten up before accepting two offered hands from his friends and hopping to a stand.

Immediately, his arms found their way over two different sets of shoulders and the three made their way much more carefully out from between the bookshelves. It didn't take long to locate a small sitting area set up in a corner beneath some high windows. Four short, plush arm chairs situated around a small sitting table. Spread out on the table were various magazines along with a desk lamp. Frowning slightly at the odd set up, Remus helped ease James into one of the chairs before turning on the lamp. Sirius and James, thankfully familiar with a good amount of Muggle things, did nothing more than spare a curious glance at the object before turning their attention back to the injured ankle.

Upon inspection, it was agreed that while he hadn't quite sprained it, James had indeed strained his ankle quite a bit. Remus commented that they were lucky and if he just stayed off it for a bit it should be fine. Of course, that meant they would be delayed in finding out the full capacity of their situation.

"Come to think of it, shouldn't someone have been here by now? Like, a Ministry official or an owl? After all, I did preform magic when we first got here. Normally that garners an immediate response in muggle areas." Sirius frowned, leaning back in his own chair and twirling his wand around idly.

"Think that maybe we're in a magical area after all?" James asked, quietly massaging his ankle while Remus took a better look at the book that had caused his mishap.

"No; if it were then there wouldn't be a ton of muggle mags and this light wouldn't be here." The book worm muttered, tapping the desk light with his wand. It flickered in response to the inherent magic.

"Well, maybe it's a double. A wizard running a muggle bookstore or something like that. It's been done, you know." Sirius stated, not able to hide his pride at knowing such a thing. Of course, the teen had thrown himself into learning things like that as an act of defiance towards his family and never missed a chance to flaunt the knowledge.

"Yes, I suppose that would be a possibility..."

"So we can use our wands freely, without worry."

"Not exactly, Siri—"

"Which makes this all much easier." Without waiting another moment and ignoring Remus' cries, Sirius leaned over to James and tapped his ankle with his wand, confidently stating, "_Episky._"

James sighed in relieve as the pain in his ankle eebed, but the light bulb on the table buzzed and crackled. Warily looking at it, the three barely had enough time to hit the ground before the light bulb exploded and showered the table and chairs around it with hot bits of glass.

"Great going, Padfoot... You of all people should know that magic and electricity don't mix." Remus grumbled as they climbed up off the ground, pointing his own wand at the mess and muttering, "_Reparo._"

As the glass flew back into the form of a light bulb, Remus quickly reached over and turned it off to avoid another episode. Of course, it still rattled slightly even without the electric current running through it and a small spark came from the nearby plug, making all three teens hurriedly back away from the area. Three _Lumos_ spells later, the boys relocated themselves to the floor in a different corner and quietly went over ideas as to what they should do now. After a few moments, it was agreed that they needed to check and see if there was any way to leave the building without setting off any alarms. It didn't take long to scope out a plan on how exactly they were going to conduct the search and soon enough, the three parted ways to look around.

They didn't come back together with very high spirits. All three had been utilizing a modified version of the Four-Point Spell to find any exits. Through their search they had discovered the building to have four levels with one below and two above ground level. There were three exits, two on ground level and one on the fourth floor that Sirius assumed went to the roof and was for emergencies—All of which were locked. The two on ground level were the front entrance, and a back exit that Remus assumed was for book shipments to be brought through. Over the course of the search he had changed his belief that they were in a book store to being in a library. A realization that had calmed him a bit over the issue of trespassing—If it was a library it would be easier to slip out unnoticed in the morning should they fail to leave sooner.

"Well, we could always just unlock the doors magically and then relock them when we're back out. That's the easiest solution, after all." James stated, spirits quickly rising when he remembered that they could, indeed, do magic without consequence for the time being.

"Yeah, so what's the problem?" Sirius nodded his head in agreement, watching the expression on Remus' face as he stared out the front door of the shop from their hidden away spot—The doors were made of glass and it would be ill advised to stand in sight of anyone who passed by out of chance.

"I want to know more about where we are, and what day it is. Stuff like that; This is the perfect place to do it I think. So before we leave, we should take a look around behind the desk." The final member of the trio said after a moment, looking at the others, "Remember, we didn't get here through any conventional means so we need to make sure of the small details to fit in."

Sirius snorted, "Moony, you really think that we've done more than move locations?"

"Actually... He has a point, Padfoot. We should double check." James stated, nodding to the irritated looking book worm and patting both of their shoulders. "Then we can get out of here and hopefully go home... Only, the desk is in plain sight from the door and I'm pretty sure I see a camera set up over there..."

"Yeah. That'll be troublesome. It'd be better if no one thought anyone was here." Remus sighed, leaning back on the heels of his feet and glancing towards the desk thoughtfully. "Disillusionment charm?"

"Nah, that'll only keep us from being seen by muggle eyes. It won't hide our sifting through stuff." Sirius replied, looking over in the direction of the desk now as well with a small frown. Then, his eyes lit up and the dark haired boy grinned, "Why don't we just turn it off? Prongs, you have the cloak with you, right?"

"The...Yeah, yeah I have it." James reached behind him and pulled the cloth in question out from under his robes where it was normally kept in anticipation of needing a quick get away.

"Brilliant. Give it to Remus; He knows how to work all that stuff better than us. Moony, once you turn it off signal us and we'll disillusion ourselves and come over." Once Sirius finished, he beamed at the other two and received nods of agreement for the well set plan. "Once we're done, we can just turn the camera back on and hopefully the muggles will just think that it malfunctioned or something."

"Good thinking, Padfoot!" James clapped him on the back and tossed the Invisibility Cloak to Remus, who nodded and reached up to cast the disillusionment charm on himself before vanishing under the cloak.

"See you in a moment."

The two friends waited in anticipation for a few moments before a flash of light from Remus' wand tip prompted them to head over. Quickly and quietly, they sifted through the papers on and behind the desk in search of a date. No one so much as gave thought to turning on one of the computers that sat on top of it. It was quietly agreed that the light from the computer would draw too much attention from anyone outside—More than the dimmed light of their wands, at least.

"Here! Found a newspaper." James held up the item in question and waved it around for the others to see. They darted over to him and peered over either shoulder as he unfurled it. "London."

"Brilliant; What's the date, does it say?" Sirius asked eagerly.

"Let's see here...July first..." The trio frowned. That was several days forward from when it was supposed to be in their time, and James continued to read with a bit more wariness, "Nineteen ninety six?!"

"It's supposed to say nineteen seventy five!" Sirius exclaimed in protest, yanking the paper from his best mate's hands to reread the print himself. "Bloody hell! We just missed twenty one years of our lives! Ugh, at least we're in London."

"Well, at least we know the year now..." Remus murmured from between his hands, where he had dropped his head to after the announcement of the date. "Not exactly the day, though, since we don't know if that's today's paper or not."

"Right. We better keep this, though, to look through later for any useful bits of information or whatever." James muttered, snatching the paper back from Sirius and rolling it up before shrinking it and stuffing it into his robes. "C'mon, Padfoot. Let's get out of sight so Moony can turn the camera back on and we can get out of here."

Five minutes later, the three teenaged wizards snuck out the back entrance of the library into an empty alley way. Locking the door behind them, the three darted down the alley and out into the late night bustling of London. The three tried not to compare it too much to the London they knew from twenty years ago, and Remus repeatedly told himself that there really was not much difference in the times. Then again, they had never paid much attention to the city outside of random roaming and things like that. Now, they hurried forward through the streets until they came with much relief upon the Leaky Cauldron. At once, they darted inside the establishment and looked around.

Tom was still playing the role as barkeep, though he was obviously older now. He looked up at the three teens curiously for a moment before greeting them.

"Could've sworn I'd just traveled some twenty years back in time when you walked in." He told them cheerfully, "Spittin' images of them Potter, Black, and Lupin kids back then. What're your names, then?"

The first statement made the trio squirm uncomfortably, but the question quite obviously made them panic. James and Sirius' eyes widened upon realizing they couldn't use their real names. Remus, however, seemed to remain calm and smiled at the old barkeep while thinking hard. Of course, the only thing that came to mind was the text from the book he had been scanning in the library. Thus, that was what he wound up getting inspiration from.

"Hello. I'm Rem—my. Remmy Rowling." His brow furrowed on that one while James and Sirius suppressed their laughter. It was a nickname that Sirius used often when he wanted to annoy his friend, and Remus definitely disliked it. "These are my cousins...Jimmy and Artie Rowling."

Immediately, the snickering ceased and the other two Marauders straightened up with mirrored expressions as Remus wore. It was probably a good thing they were in mixed company right now, or Sirius may have tackled him right then and there. There was no question where he had gotten 'Artie' from and it most definitely wasn't Sirius' own name. Despite this, however, he was completely aware of the way his friend was bristling and prepared himself throughout the time it took to rent out a room for the explosion that was sure to come. Sure enough, once they were safely locked away in their room James cast a hurried Silencing charm and both turned to glare at him accusingly.

"_Artie_?" Sirius hissed, advancing on the slowly retreating form that was Remus, "You could've chosen anything to use and you go with my _brother's _middle name?!"

"Your entire name is impossible to shorten into something remotely proper-sounding, Sirius." Was the ready reply as the honey brunette collapsed on one of two beds in the room.

"Yeah. Be happy you didn't get stuck with some ridiculous nickname like Jimmy." James chimed in, glaring.

"Or Remmy. Look, it's not forever. Just a front until we figure out what to do." Remus sighed, rubbing his forehead once more before looking up at the other two sixteen year olds. "So, what _are_ we going to do?"

"Dunno. Live out our lives in the future?" Sirius sighed, flopping onto the bed next to his friend, anger completely drained, "I doubt anyone will believe us if we told them the truth anyways, so there's not much we can do."

"Well, we have to finish school. Can't do that without a proper alibi and I seriously doubt Dumbledore will be lied to easily, you know." Remus argued, sighing as well.

That was when James straightened up and grinned, "Dumbledore!"

"Eh?" Both of the bickering friends looked curiously at the messy haired male who was still grinning stupidly like he normally did when struck with a particularly brilliant plan.

"Dumbledore, we can go to Dumbledore! He'll believe us, he _has_ to. After all, we're from the past." James gestured to himself and then them, "We look exactly like we did back then—And don't you think everyone would be wondering where we've been these last two decades?"

"James...I don't know if anyone's looking for us. Tom didn't mention anything about an unfortunate disappearance or anything like that." Remus frowned, but otherwise sat up a bit straighter, "But it sounds like our best shot."

"Eh, sure. Let's do it." Sirius muttered, flopping back down onto his bed, "Tomorrow, though. _Artie_ is starving and could use a laugh right about now. Let's go explore the alley."

The other two agreed and together, the three friends found their way down the stairs and out into the alley behind the pub. It was time to find out just how much time could change things...


	3. Chapter II

**Summary – **_Sixteen__ year old_ _James, Sirius and Remus have been thrown into an alternate, twisted dimension where the worlds of Reality and Harry Potter collide. Imagine all the insanity they can get into armed with a knowledge from the Books and Muggle technology—And still very mischievous minds—inside not only Hogwarts grounds, but the magical world._

Inspired by the infamous list of 586/807 things I'm not allowed to do at Hogwarts; I decided I wanted to write a fic with some of these insane things happening and deigned that Sirius and James would be the best puppets for this sort of thing. Feel free to chime in with ideas along the way!

Just to make things clear; I'm going by the Lexicon's time line for ages and dates and what-not. I know there's a lot of muddled answers in that area, so I'm just gonna stick to this time line as best I can. If anyone comes up with anything more accurate or can help me figure out ages, birth dates and what-not, it is most welcomed! Also, since this is a mixed world I'm moving up the book publishing's.

Also, for future reference; I'll be using 'Remus' to refer to the teen!Remmy and 'Lupin' to refer to the adult!Remmy for the time being. kthnx.

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I've been asked about the door picture. It's obviously who the werewolf, dog, rat, and stag are. But yes, the doe and fawn are depictions of Lily and Harry. The snake, is meant to show Voldemort. -sweatdrop- I actually never thought to include Sev in the picture...Poor guy; He's always forgotten. I probably should have, no? I'll make it up to him later.

On that note! Here we go!

**Disclaimer:**_I do not own Harry Potter (J.K Rowling), or the List (kupika's Demonic_Angel and a multitude of others). I'm simply using them for my amusement and the amusement of others._

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**Chapter II**

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Needless to say, what the three Marauders found upon passing through the brick archway was definitely not what they had expected. James had been expecting nothing to have really changed; A few more shops here and there and some wicked versions of the things they had back in their time, but nothing too big. Sirius had been of the same mind, and happily pointed out to James that in twenty years there was bound to be some brilliant improvements in brooms. On the other side of things, Remus was looking forward to finding out what knowledge had been gained over the last two decades.

What they found, though, was a nearly desolate alley in which some shops were closed down and many more of the small stands that the boys normally viewed as pests were set up along both sides of the alley. The shops, which the trio remembered as normally bright and cheery, were plastered with frightening posters from the Ministry of Magic, with faces of several convicts.

"Hey, that's Bellatrix!" Sirius hissed, tugging his two friends over to one of the boarded up shops to get a closer look at the picture, "Merlin, she looks bloody horrible."

"Says here she and several other criminals were part of a massive break out at Azkaban." James muttered, eyes scanning the bottom of the poster.

"Azkaban? That's not possible... No one has ever gotten past the Dementors!" Remus stated in astonishment, leaning over to read the bottom of the poster himself.

"Hey guys... Doesn't this shop look familiar to you?" Sirius asked suddenly, having backed up a few paces to look up at the bordered up sign above the shop, "Bloody hell! This is Fortescue's ice cream place!"

"What?!" Darting back to join the Black heir, the two took a second look at the shop. James nearly fell over in shock.

"I'm not so sure I like this new time, guys." He muttered as the other two caught and steadied him, "It's pretty... Depressing."

"Yeah, no shit." Sirius agreed, looking away from the shop and over the alleyway once more. Immediately, he perked up, "But _that_ looks promising. _'Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes_'."

Following his gaze, James let out a low whistle at the only corner in the alley that was bursting with color and excitement. It didn't take more than a second of inspection to decide exactly what kind of shop it was. So, without further ado, the trio gravitated towards the bright looking joke shop. They couldn't help but chortle at the dangerously obnoxious poster in the window.

"U-No-Poo, huh?" Sirius snickered as they entered the store, "That's brilliant. Why didn't we ever think of that?"

"Obviously whoever runs this shop is trying to take the edge off this tense atmosphere." Remus commented, looking around with a bit of awe at all the products and items flying around. The shop was _packed_, contrary to the area outside of it.

"Look at all this! Portable swamps, extendable ears, _headless_ hats!" James grinned, reaching over to grab hold of a curious looking box, "Oy, what's this? Skiving Snackboxes... What do they do, do you suppose?"

"Make you sick, of course." A new voice caused the trio to spin around, coming face to face with a pair of red headed twins wearing long magenta robes. They were grinning, but there was a look in their eyes that spoke suspicion.

"You eat one half with whatever symptom you want—" The first twin spoke happily, pointing out the list of different 'flavors'.

"—and you'll be sick enough to get out of class." The second twin chimed in, nodding before the first twin took over again.

"Once you're free and clear you eat the other half—"

"—and the symptom'll clear up!"

"Leaving you to spend the rest of the day doing whatever you like." They finished, beaming at one another.

"Wicked..." Sirius grinned, grabbing the box from James' hand to examine, "Fainting Fancies, Fever Fudge, Nosebleed Nougat, Puking Pastilles... Bloody hell, imagine the kinds of things we could've done with these, James!"

"Trust me, I am..." The messy haired male replied, throwing an arm over his friend's shoulder, "Could've spent a lot more time with Rem, in hindsight, using those."

"Quiet!" Remus hissed softly, knocking his shoulder against the others but giving the box a curious glance none the less. "I doubt it would have worked like that; Dumbledore would've known."

"Oy, so who're you three?" The first twin cut into their bickering, tilting his head.

"Thought we knew everyone in Gryffindor." The second one commented, frowning a bit and gesturing to the insignia on the teens robes.

"And that everyone knew us, at least."

"Er..." Sirius looked between the twins and his two friends, then down at his robes, "Actually, we—"

"It's a long story." Remus cut in while James elbowed Sirius in the side. "Surely one that isn't of any concern to entrepreneurs such as yourselves; as long as you get the sell, right?"

The twins exchanged a look before nodding, the first gesturing behind them, "Right-o. Fred, why don't you show these three some of our more impressive products? They seem like class-A pranksters to me."

"Sure thing, George." The second twin, Fred, grinned and gestured for the trio to follow him, "This way, you'll get a kick outta these..."

Looking between his friends, James shrugged and started behind Fred as he led the way to the back. Sirius didn't hesitate a moment, immediately following after the ring-leader of their little gang. Thus, rolling his eyes and setting the snackbox back down on the shelf, Remus trailed along after his friends. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of white light leave the other twin, George's, wand and shoot out of the shop and frowned slightly. Something didn't seem right...

"Oy!" Sirius' yell alerted the werewolf to the first sign of trouble and his wand was out as he hurried forward into the back. James was laying on the floor, obviously stunned, and the other dark haired male had taken cover behind a book shelf while firing off hexes at Fred.

"The bloody hell is going on?! Sirius!" Remus shouted, taking cover behind a nearby crate.

"I don't know, he just suddenly attacked James!" Was the snappish reply, the young Black glancing over to see where the other was before tensing and diving out from behind the book shelf and towards the crate. His wand was pointed in the direction of Fred, but obviously not directly at the shopkeeper, "_Reducto!_"

A crate directly to the left of the twin exploded as the spell hit it's target, showering the room with debris. Remus ducked down to avoid being hit by anything that had gone flying and felt Sirius join him behind the crate. His mind was reeling, going a mile a minute as he tried to figure out why they were being attacked. Then, it dawned on him. They had walked into a well-known shop, knowing absolutely nothing about the world around them—A world that was obviously war-ridden and paranoid. Or, at least, things that students of Hogwarts should know in this time. As a result, they'd probably been marked as a potential threat and it was likely that the twins wanted to stun them until authorities could be notified.

"Moony, a spell to get us out of this would be nice about now!" Sirius' voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and Remus waved the other down, peering around the crate to where James' body was.

"We need to summon Prongs to us." He informed the other after a moment of thought, pulling back and avoiding another stunning charm.

"What? I don't think they're that strong, Moony."

"Not alone, maybe. But if we do it together than it should work. We have to at least try; can't leave him there."

Sirius stared at him dubiously for a moment or so before glancing towards the only exit in the room. He could hear approaching footsteps coming and it prompted him to nod, "Alright. On the count of three, then."

"Right. Ready?" Remus smiled, causing Sirius to smirk in return, similar glints appearing in their eyes, "Three!"

Spinning out from behind the crate, the pair pointed their wands in the direction of their friend and shouted, "_Accio James!_"

The form on the ground twitched, then jerked and lifted from the floor to fly in their direction, colliding with the two friends and making them stumble slightly. Sirius exclaimed in triumph, but didn't have a chance to do much more than that as someone burst into the room, followed by two others. Several red lights flew in their general direction, causing the two to dive to the ground again and roll behind the crate; dragging James with them.

"You're surrounded! You might as well give it up, now!" A frighteningly familiar voice growled from the direction of the new group of people.

"Give it up?! You lot started it!" Sirius shouted back, irritated but not budging as Remus leaned over their friend.

"_Rennervate._" Frowning, the honey-blond shook his friend lightly by the shoulders and let out a relieved sigh when James groaned in response, "C'mon, Prongs. Time to get up; we're in some hot water. Auror Moody is here, and he has company from the sound of it."

He was trying his damnedest to ignore the yelling match happening between Padfoot and said Auror. It was obvious that Sirius wasn't making things any better for them, but... How much damage could he really cause at this point? Thus, it was more important to get James back in the know.

"Moody? As in, from career week?" James replied a bit dazedly, "Why would he be here?"

"Not _our_ Moody, Prongs! Future Moody! The door, remember?" Remus growled at his friend, smacking him lightly on the side of the face, "We don't have time for you to go bonkers. Padfoot's digging a deeper hole from the sounds of it."

"Ah...Right. Can you shut them up, for a moment? Please?"

Nodding, Remus straightened up and smacked Sirius on the shoulder while yelling out, "Will you _please_ be quiet a moment?!" to what now seemed to be a bickering group.

Almost immediately, the room fell silent. It happened so quickly that it was disturbing and, as he and Sirius helped James sit up against the crate, the werewolf strained his ears for any sounds coming from the others. After a moment, when no other sounds or noises came, Remus let the paranoia take over and peeked out from around the crate while Sirius drilled and filled in their friend. A glance was all it took to tell him that something was wrong. Very wrong; but no one tried to stun him and so he edged a bit more out from behind the crate.

"What're you doing?!" Sirius hissed in alarm when he realized that Remus was moving out into the open.

"Moony, get back here!" James yelped at almost the same moment, the two friends darting forward to try and pull the other back.

Before they could do anything, though, the two found themselves tripping over an invisible string and crashed to the floor, pulling the werewolf down with them. It was much a similar position as when they had first arrived in the Muggle library. Only, this time, they were disarmed quickly afterward while Sirius swore under his breath.

"Now look what you did, you dunderhead!" He growled none-too-quietly at Remus as they disentangled themselves, "Haven't you ever heard of communication?"

"A right lot more than you have, I'm sure." A weary voice that sounded incredibly close to their best friend's, but didn't come from his mouth, replied to Sirius' words.

Two teen heads snapped in the direction it had come from, wide-eyed, while the sixteen year old werewolf muttered, "Impossible..."

"_Moony_?!" James and Sirius exclaimed at once, jumping to their feet and looking rapidly between the ragged-looking man that was standing at the head of a group of adults and their friend who had remained on the ground.

"Interesting..." Another familiar, not unkind voice sounded, telling the trio the identity of the third adult. "What a very curious turn of events. Wouldn't you agree, Remus?"

"Quite so, Albus."

Without precedent, the three Marauders relaxed; the two who had been standing collapsing back down onto the floor with similar expressions of disbelief. There was a moment of silence before Sirius snickered and garnered everyone's attention. After a moment, he leaned over to the teenaged Remus and spoke.

"You're on first name terms with the Headmaster in twenty one years, Moony. Dunno why I'm not surprised." That caused James to snort as well, while the teen in question rolled his eyes.

"Please, I imagine all three of us would be by now. What'd you expect, for us to continue calling him 'Headmaster' the rest of our lives?"

"Well..." Sirius shrugged, looking at James who scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully.

"Yeah, actually, I suppose. Seems sorta strange to call him anything else."

"No shit."

Sighing, James rolled his eyes, "Padfoot, you have _got_ to stop adopting every phrase you hear at the movies that you think is cool."

"No shit." Sirius grinned as his friends groaned in unison, all three seeming to have forgotten about the mess around them as well as the adults standing nearby with their wands.

"Moony, during the next cycle, be sure to tear into him a bit."

"James!" Not only did the teenaged Remus' voice sound, but so did Lupin's, as well as Dumbledore's.

Starting, the trio's eyes flew back to the adults and they remembered their situation. Remus only stared at his adult self for a moment before turning back to glare at his friend accusingly. Suddenly, the messy haired male found himself on the receiving end of four glares and one stern look. He winced and frowned, crossing his arms.

"I was just kidding... Sheesh."

"Why, I oughta..." Growling, Sirius lunged at his best mate, knocking him over with a yelp. The two tussled for a moment before any one saw fit to interfere.

"Enough!" With a wave of his wand, Dumbledore lifted the two boys off the ground and pulled them apart; leaving them hovering in the air by the scruff of their shirts, "I would like an explanation, please. Preferably the truth, without embellishments."

At the no-nonsense tone, the Marauders exchanged a look of exasperation between themselves. Sirius and James always knew when they had gone too far by that voice, but at the same time they held the knowledge that it was twenty one years into the future. Here, they probably didn't have parents that could be owled. Most likely because of the unlikelihood of the situation—After all, the Potters would just think Dumbledore mad if he owled them about their adult son and his best friend now. Thus did the three come to the same conclusion, and grin in rapid succession of one another. This of course caused all the adults to frown; it was never a good sign for anyone when that happened.

"Well, you see Professor..." Remus began, standing up and brushing himself off.

"It really is a funny story, about that." Sirius stated, waving an arm from where he hung in the air.

"Sorta long, too." James chimed in, reaching up to mess his own hair up even further.

"Definitely not one you'd approve of, either, I'm sure." Lupin muttered under his breath, already recognizing the signs of stalling amongst the ranks he was so familiar with, "Albus... I suggest we take this somewhere more appropriate."

"Headquarters?" Moody growled, his good eye glaring at Sirius while the other zipped about in his head, looking everywhere.

"No; I don't suspect that will put Sirius in a very talkative mood." Lupin replied readily, looking between the three with a strange expression on his features. "I think Hogwarts would be safest... Headmaster?"

Dumbledore gazed at the teens over his half-moon spectacles, looking thoughtful. Lifting his head defiantly, James met his gaze as evenly as possible—Though Sirius averted his eyes after a moment of trying to do the same and Remus kept his focus on his older self; not even seeming to be aware that he was being examined by the old man. Finally, though, the Headmaster turned his gaze back to James and smiled serenely before nodding.

"Yes, I think my office will do fine for this conversation." With another wave of his wand, the two boys found themselves being set back on the ground, "I detected no deception in their mannerisms or intentions. In fact... I believe you boys had been intending to contact me yourselves, soon."

"Not soon enough, it seems." Sirius grumbled, moving with Remus to flank James as he threw an arm around his best mates' shoulders, "We still wound up getting in trouble."

The messy haired teen gave a dramatic sigh, raising his arms in a helpless shrug, "It's a gift and a curse; I know." Then, he paused and eyed Lupin curiously for a moment, making the man tense a bit, "Oy, full Moony... The date here, I'm not sure but you look pretty horrible..."

"Hey...Yeah, he does, doesn't he?" The other dark haired teen mumbled, squinting at the adult as well, "Is it close to your 'time of the month'?"

Lupin frowned while his teen self scowled at the two friends. Exchanging a glance with his smaller self, the adult took three long strides over to them before the two simultaneously knocked Sirius and James over the head. They received similar cries of protest and curses from the two teens. Dumbledore simply looked on in amusement before clearing his throat and holding up a piece of debris.

"I do believe we owe the Weasley twins a bit of a clean up, don't you?"

The teens looked between themselves before Sirius glowered at the Headmaster, "No, Professor, I don't believe so. After all, _they_ attacked us. Not the other way around."

"Yeah. I mean, it's sorta their fault for starting a fight back here." James agreed, crossing his arms stubbornly.

"I'm inclined to agree with James and Sirius, Headmaster." Remus stated quietly, frowning now. "After all, we were merely acting in self-defense. Had they thought things through more than perhaps they would not have attacked James without warning in the middle of their storage room. At the very least they should have protection charms around the items and crates."

James and Sirius stared at him for a moment before turning back to the adults and nodding in agreement, "Yeah!"

Dumbledore sighed, but cleaned up the room with a wave of his wand none the less; repairing everything that had been damaged as he was able. Within moments he had finished and accepted a spare trick wand from one of the rather speechless twins and tapped it lightly, murmuring, "_Portus._"

"Ohh, portkey travel. Wicked." James grinned while nudging Sirius, who groaned in response. The Black heir had never liked using portkeys, not having mastered the landing quite yet. "Are we going to Hogwarts, then?"

"Home sweet home... Sorta. I wonder if that door would be there..." Remus muttered thoughtfully before reaching out to touch the prank item lightly.

The other two mimicked him along with the adults before they experienced the familiar jerk behind their naval. Within seconds, James was leaning against a chair, snickering, in the Headmaster's office while Remus helped a swearing Sirius to a stand. The messy haired boy easily ducked the fist that came flying at him and threw himself quite comfortably into the chair he'd been leaning against. Sirius perched on the armrest of the same chair while Remus took the other seat. The adults watched their interaction with varying looks of amusement and suspicion.

Dumbledore took a seat behind his desk, folding his hands in front of him. He examined the teens for a minute or so before finally settling a look on Remus, "I believe you owe us a full explanation for your presences here."

"Yes, sir." Was the quiet reply as the honey blond looked over at his older counter-part yet again. "You see, it started when Peter got attacked by Mrs. Norris about a week before end of term..."

"Again." Sirius added, rolling his eyes. "We were just sorta roaming the halls and brainstorming. Not getting up to any trouble, mind you."

"Unless you count Sirius whining about everything being boring trouble." James chimed in, smirking up at his friend. "Anyways, we were talking about nothing of real importance...And this door appears."

"Yeah. It had the strangest picture on it of our—" An elbow in the ribs cut off Sirius' near-slip, and he grimaced.

"Just a strange bit of artwork on it." Remus finished smoothly, "Sirius was convinced that Hogwarts was showing us the door for a reason, and yanked it open without thinking things through."

"Hey!" Huffing, the Black heir tossed his hair out of his face, "Anyways, next thing we know we're throw into some vortex and dumped out inside a Muggle library."

"Of course, we spent a bit there trying to figure out what had happened and found out the year." James shrugged, "We're not sure about the day, but it's definitely not when it's supposed to be."

"So we get out of that place and head to the Leaky Cauldron, where _Remmy_ comes up with some crock-pot names for us to tell Tom."

"Hey, _Artie_, don't blame me just because your name is impossible to shorten without pulling notice."

"Guys."

"Yeah, but you didn't have to use my bloody brother's name for inspiration."

"Guys..."

"Be glad I used anything at all; I didn't see you coming up with anything when he asked."

"_Guys!_" James flailed his arms, smacking both of his arguing friends before glaring between them, "Will you stop fighting for just two seconds, please? We're getting away from the matter at hand."

Sighing, Sirius nodded and fixed his hair; glancing at Remus while murmuring an apology. The werewolf nodded in acceptance and offered the same before they turned back to the adults. Obviously, the entire matter had been resolved within mere seconds. Classic.

"Okay, well, we got to our room and decided that it would be a good idea to contact the Headmaster. After all, it was our best bet for getting any sort of understanding or help." The messy haired boy picked up on the tale once again, leaning back comfortably in his chair, "But first..."

"We wanted to see how the Alley looked in the future." Sirius grinned, before frowning and shaking his head, "And boy, does it look absolutely horrid... Hey. Was that really Bella on those posters?" He watched the adults exchange looks quietly before huffing and crossing his arms, "Alright, fine then... After taking a look at the alley, we noticed that joke shop and—"

"—like any proper, self-respecting pranksters—"

"—headed into the shop to take a look around."

Rolling his eyes, Remus couldn't help but grin at his friends before finishing up the story, "Obviously, we didn't know anything that you would expect someone to know about this time. Particularly the little details about that store... I suppose our school uniforms didn't help our situation."

"The rest, of course, you already know." James added with a wave of his hand, before suddenly sitting up straight, "So, now what?"


	4. Chapter III

**Summary – **_Sixteen year old_ _James, Sirius and Remus have been thrown into an alternate, twisted dimension where the worlds of Reality and Harry Potter collide. Imagine all the insanity they can get into armed with a knowledge from the Books and Muggle technology—And still very mischievous minds—inside not only Hogwarts grounds, but the magical world._

Inspired by the infamous list of 586/807 things I'm not allowed to do at Hogwarts; I decided I wanted to write a fic with some of these insane things happening and deigned that Sirius and James would be the best puppets for this sort of thing. Feel free to chime in with ideas along the way!

Just to make things clear; I'm going by the Lexicon's time line for ages and dates and what-not. I know there's a lot of muddled answers in that area, so I'm just gonna stick to this time line as best I can. If anyone comes up with anything more accurate or can help me figure out ages, birth dates and what-not, it is most welcomed! Also, since this is a mixed world I'm moving up the book publishing dates.

Remus – Teenager; Lupin – Adult

Alright! Here we go!

**Disclaimer:**_I do not own Harry Potter (J.K Rowling), or the List (kupika's Demonic_Angel and a multitude of others). I'm simply using them for my amusement and the amusement of others._

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**Chapter III**

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The question hung heavily in the air between the past and the future as the two stared each other in the face. Indeed, what was to be done now—if the adults even believed their story. Thinking back over it, James figured that the entire thing sounded rather off, even to him. And he had experienced the entire ordeal himself. Granted, the adults had only received a rather short over-view version of the events. The three hadn't seen fit to tell the adults they had been able to preform magic in the Muggle library, and had withheld that Sirius and James were animagi since they weren't sure how much these people knew about their future selves.

"Well..." Dumbledore began, "To begin with, we are in need of confirming your identities. Your story is very difficult to believe, though I do believe there is a plausible explanation if it proves true."

"I believe we've somehow fallen forward in time, and slipped into a parallel universe." Remus suddenly spoke, sitting straight up with his hands clasped in his lap, "It's unheard of, I know, but it's also the only reasonable explanation that I can come up with for why I would have been thrust forward twenty one years in time and meet my adult self."

The occupants of the room stared at him for a moment. James and Sirius seemed to be staring at him as if he had lost it once and for all. This irked the werewolf; of all people, _they_ should be agreeing with him! After all, they knew the full story and he knew that they knew that he knew they knew about the basic laws of the universe and time travel—It wasn't possible for there to be two of the same person in a universe outside of a small time loop created from using a time-turner to go _back_ in time. Had they simply moved forward, then his adult self shouldn't be there. They would have been considered missing for the twenty one years they had traveled through in the vortex.

"...That makes sense." Sirius finally spoke up, smiling, "I mean, I guess. I've been trying to wrap my head around how it's possible for there to be two Moony's in one world and now that you talk about it... That really is the best answer."

"Yeah." James nodded, crossing his arms behind his head, "So that vortex-thing took us to another world where time is accelerated from ours?"

"That's one way of putting it..." Remus smiled, relaxing when he realized that his friends were on his side. It would have been easy for them to just claim he'd gone bonkers or something...

"A very plausible theory..." His adult self murmured, turning to look at the Headmaster, then Moody, "Alastor, how do you purpose going about to make sure that they are who they claim to be?"

"Well, there's a number of tests but the only way to know for sure would be to ask them something that only they could know." The ex-Auror replied, scowling at the three teens distrustfully, "But I'll say now, they aren't using Polyjuice potion. It's been over an hour since the Weasleys called for us."

"Polyjuice potion... Nasty stuff." Sirius cut a face, before holding up a hand and stating in a matter-of-fact tone, "Not to be used with animal hair."

"That one was hard to explain." James remembered, snickering, "You didn't stop barking for a week."

"Hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time..."

Lupin smiled suddenly, recalling the incident when Sirius, Peter and James had swiped a vial of Polyjuice potion from the advanced Potions class earlier on in their fifth year. Sirius had been very determined that it would be a good way to find out more about his animagus form. He hadn't even found out about the whole plot until it was too late—Otherwise he would have reminded his friends about the potion being meant only to be used to transform into other humans. Instead, he had wound up scolding the three for going ahead with a plan without telling him about it. Looking at his younger self now, it was clear that he was remembering as well; a fond smile playing at his lips.

"Very well, I'll go ahead and question them, then." He spoke, nodding to the other two adults, "After all, I was there back then and if these supposed worlds are anything alike..."

"Ohh, quiz time." Sirius grinned, looking at Remus, "What do you think you'll ask?"

"It wouldn't be very fair if I told you." Was the reply, though the teen was smirking, "Besides, it's not really me. It's...The other me."

"Because that totally rolls off the tongue." James rolled his eyes, before ginning as well, "Alright, full Moony, shoot."

Glancing at the Headmaster, Lupin waited for a nod before clearing his throat and asking calmly, "What are your animagus forms?"

The three froze, tensing up almost immediately. Then, without a word, Sirius and James sprang off their seat and grabbed Lupin by the arms, dragging him across the room with Remus in tow. He didn't see all that surprised, and appropriately stooped down when they yanked on his arms.

"What are you doing?" Sirius hissed.

"Are you trying to get us in trouble?" James asked with a scowl, "No one's supposed to know about that!"

"Yeah, it'll ruin everything if the adults find out."

"Guys, I think it's safe to say that the adults here already know." Remus spoke up calmly, looking at his adult self, "Am I right?"

When Lupin nodded, the two dark haired teens stared at him in disbelief for a moment. Then, glancing at each other, they sighed and dragged the two werewolves back over to the other two adults before sitting down. They looked hard between the Headmaster and Moody, obviously distrusting. It took a gentle sigh and nudge from Remus to prompt them into answering.

"Oh, alright. I'm a stag." James sniffed, sitting up straighter in a show of pride.

"And I'm a mutt." Sirius grinned, scratching behind his ear lightly and 'oofing' when James elbowed him in the side.

"You're not a mutt, I wish you'd stop saying that." James grumbled, glaring up at his friend.

"Yeah, even you don't deserve that, Padfoot." Remus agreed softly, frowning at his long-haired friend, "After all, mutt is so... I don't know, demeaning. Besides, people probably mistake you for the Grim more often."

Snickering, Sirius shrugged, "Alright then, I'm the Grim. Fear my power of death predictability!"

He raised jumped off from the arm of James' chair, shifting into a great black dog mid-leap. Padfoot landed in the middle of the room and spun around to face the others with a loud bark. He stood up straight, tail wagging furiously before bounding back over to sit between the grinning forms of James and Remus. They both automatically reached out to scratch behind either of his ears.

"Is that enough proof for you lot, or do you want me to transform, too?" James asked, grinning triumphantly.

"Actually..." Lupin started, looking a bit overwhelmed, "Would you mind bringing Prongs out?"

The messy haired boy blinked at the man with a slight frown before shrugging and hopping out of his seat. He had the foresight to move to the center of the room, where there was plenty of floor space, before transforming into a majestic but young stag. Prongs pawed at the ground, tossing his head a bit restlessly in the enclosed space. Remus automatically stood and went over too pat the top of his head between the horns. Lupin joined his younger self almost without realizing it, a sad smile on his features—Barely daring to believe he was there let alone pet him. Within minutes, James shifted back to find Sirius lounging in his chair, grinning.

"Thief." He grumbled, sticking his tongue out and grinning when the gesture was returned. "Just count yourself lucky I don't have my wand."

"Yeah, same goes here." The Black heir returned, before sitting up a bit straighter to look at Dumbledore, "Speaking of; _can_ we get those back now? I mean, we did just prove that we're who we said we are."

"I don't see why not." Raising his wand, Dumbledore returned the Marauders' wands to them, "There is still much we need to discuss, but I believe it can wait until tomorrow. For now..." He handed a note to Fawkes, who vanished in a flash of flame, "Professor McGonnagall will meet you in the Great Hall. I'm sure the house elves will be more than accommodating in providing whatever food you would like."

"Wicked!" The three teens exclaimed at once, jumping to a stand. Without another word, they darted from the office.

Once the teens were gone, Lupin fell heavily into the chair closest to him and Moody stomped over to the fireplace. Within seconds, they were joined by Authur Weasley and Kingsley Shacklebolt, both looking a weary and rather confused; though, Kingsley hid it better than Authur did. The adult werewolf straightened up in his seat and nodded to the two males in greeting. The gesture was returned before the Auror turned to look at Dumbledore with a frown.

"What's this Alastor was saying about old friends?"

"Not quite so old..." Lupin muttered softly, once again leaning back in the chair and raising a hand to rub his forehead, "You always choose the most interesting wordings for things."

"It is a delicate matter, Remus." Dumbledore soothed, before nodding to the two new arrivals and offering his candy dish to both, "I don't suppose you'd like a lemon drop? No? Very well, let us get to the matter for which you were asked here... It will take quite a lot of explaining, I'm afraid, so you may want to conjure up some more chairs."

Glancing between one another, the two men did as suggested and conjured a pair of comfortable looking chairs to sit in while Moody took the last seat beside Lupin. Once sure he had their attention, Dumbledore started to recount the day's events. Several times, either Authur or Kingsley tried to interrupt but he held up a hand to quiet them before continuing. It was the best way to do this; get the full story out there before letting any speculation and questioning start. Especially since there would be plenty of both happening with the story being told now. It was very hard to believe for the three adults who had heard it first—despite having seen Prongs and Padfoot again for their own eyes.

He had nearly forgotten how to breathe several times that night. First, when his own—younger—voice had broke through Sirius' and Moody's arguing. Then, when his younger self had edge into view; that one had been doubled when the teenaged forms of James and Sirius had darted out hastily after him with cries of protest. It had been hard to believe his own eyes, his own ears as he listened to the familiar way that Sirius and his younger self bickered good naturedly. How James casually got between them when he got tired of hearing their voices fighting over nothing in particular. Even when Sirius and James had cracked the joke about his disease...

Those hadn't been the hardest thing for him, though. Because even with all the certainty he had from their manner and attitudes about who they were... There had still been a chance that they _weren't_ the young Marauders—minus Pettigrew. All chance of uncertainty had vanished though when the two dark-haired boys had transformed. Animagi were tricky things, they took a person's soul and gave it an appearance in the form of an animal or beast. There was no lying to oneself when you were looking at your best friends' inner beasts—their souls—right in the eye. It just wasn't possible anymore after that and he had to repress the pain from everything he had lost in this war. James and Lily to a prophecy, Peter to betrayal and Sirius... A death and pain still too fresh to be able to think about, even vaguely.

Suddenly, Lupin felt more weary than he had in quite awhile. Even with his normal ordeals that left him haggard looking and worn down; this definitely took the cake from all that. The werewolf sat in his chair in almost a daze while Albus talked and explained the situation. He knew there wouldn't be much chance for rest until something had been decided concerning what was to be done about the young Marauders. After all, they couldn't just bring them into their midst without a proper plan—Especially when the castle was nearly completely empty. Most of the staff had gone off for the holidays, or were out on special errands for the Order. Either way, the boys definitely could not stay here throughout the summer; if they were even here for that long.

Which, seeing the only decent explanation that been provided thus far involved universal travel, it was very likely that they would be stuck here. Especially considering that such a thing was only speculation up until today. That sort of thing... Just didn't happen.

–– ––

Meanwhile, down in the Great Hall, the three Marauders were seated at a rather short table with the Head of Gryffindor house. They barely paid her any mind, busy tucking into the food they had requested, not-unkindly, from the kitchens. Of course, that didn't mean that they didn't retain their manners. Whenever McGonnagall came up with a question, Remus or James would pause to answer. So far, Sirius hadn't managed to swallow his food fast enough before the other two had finished responding. Thus, he blissfully remained silent and focused on his meal. For the most part, though, things were rather silent until they all felt full and very, very happy.

"I don't believe I've ever see anyone eat quite that much in one sitting..." McGonnagall commented in a bemused tone, "You three were certainly hungry."

"Well, Professor." Sirius piped up, leaning back in the comfortable seat that had been conjured in replace of the normal benches, "We missed lunch, were sucked through a vortex that, admittedly, scared the pants off us—"

"Had to sneak our way from a closed Muggle building without raising alarm," James chimed in, also reclining, "took a walk through London in order to find the Leaky Cauldron—"

"Convince Tom we were trustworthy and get a room before going to explore Diagon Alley," Remus continued, taking a drink from his goblet, "Where we were attacked without precedent or warning in the back of a joke shop."

"Come to think of it, we haven't really had a good day, have we?" Sirius wondered, frowning in thought, "Shouldn't we be like, really mad or something at full Moony, Auror Moody, and Professor Dumbledore?"

The other two shrugged, not seeming to be bothered by it at all. Though, Remus still looked a little preoccupied as he had been since seeing his older self—Or maybe it was the book he had been scanning at the library. Who knew. James turned his head to watch as the honey brunette swirled the little remaining liquid in his goblet around thoughtfully. It refilled itself to the brim instantly, and his hand steadied to keep from spilling pumpkin juice all over his only clothing in this time—or world, as the case may be.

"No, I don't think we should...The book ends, maybe." Remus finally commented, looking up towards Sirius, "After all, they're the ones who set us up—Not the adults."

"Book ends. I like that." Sirius snickered, exchanging a grin with James. They sobered up immediately, though, at the resulting look they received from Professor McGonnagall, "What?"

"You will refrain from calling the Weasley boys 'book ends', please." She told them in a no-nonsense tone that did far less good than Dumbledore's had.

"Why? They're twins, aren't they? I think it's a fitting description." James protested, crossing his arms in front of himself.

The Transfiguration Professor just sighed and shook her head. When the Marauders had graduated from Hogwarts, she had been filled with a mixture of pride and relief. Pride at all the things they had accomplished and the immeasurable good they would no doubt go on to use their minds for. Relief at no longer having to worry about what kind of havoc they were wreaking inside of the school with those brilliant minds. Of course, their seventh year hadn't been all that bad; especially with Lily Evans playing the active role of James Potter's conscious. However, these boys were going into their sixth year—coming fresh from their fifth. If her memory served correctly, fifth year for the Marauders had been the most troublesome and sixth was where Lily had finally managed to get through to James and, in turn, Sirius.

Lily Evans wasn't here to do that again, though. As it appeared, only the three boys had been dragged through this 'vortex'. Oh, how Minerva wished that the bright young witch had been present somehow. It was very unlikely in their fifth year, though, for the firey red head to be anywhere near the boys. So of course she wasn't dragged forward through time and space with them. Of course, she still wasn't sure on all of the details in the story but had managed to pull a general idea from her questions, the boy's chatter, and the note that Albus had sent to her with Fawkes. It was all very hard to wrap her head around, but the Head of Gryffindor house was well content to simply take it in stride and trust her friend and mentor until the time came later on to sit down and discuss it in full.

Albus trusted them and had promised a full explanation as soon as the boys were given quarters and tucked away for the night. Until then, he had requested that she kept an eye on them. An easy task so far, as they were content to eat and chat amongst themselves without leaving the Hall. Young Remus seemed to be more immersed in his thoughts than the conversation being carried with his two friends, though. Probably he was still thinking about his older self up in the Headmaster's office, she thought with a small smile.

"Professor, could I talk to you privately for a moment?" The young man in question suddenly asked, setting his goblet down on the table.

Frowning slightly, McGonnagall nodded and stood up, "Of course you may."

Waiting for the boy to stand as well, she cast a sharp 'no silly business' glance at the other two boys before leading Remus away from the table. Once they were out of earshot, she stopped and glanced over to the table. The confused, dark haired boys were watching the two of them with a sense of concern. Remus looked towards them as well, offering an encouraging smile that seemed to relax his friends; the two boys returning to whatever conversation they had been carrying before his request.

"Yes, Mister Lupin?" She finally prompted, calling his attention away from his friends.

"I was just wondering, Professor, if... Why... Since _my_ older self is here, where are James and Sirius' older selves? And Peter?" He asked quietly, looking directly up at the teacher.

Minerva's stomach dropped at the question; she had been hoping that he wouldn't make the observation that the older versions of his friends—The James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew of this world, weren't present. Of course, it had been wishful thinking on her part. Remus Lupin was too bright, too observant to overlook such a drastic lacking in the picture of his supposed future. The Marauders that he knew would never grow up and not still do everything they possibly could together. Especially run into a perceived possibility of danger. James and Sirius would have never sat back and let him go into a fight without them, at the very least.

The suddenly grief stricken expression on her face was all he needed and Remus lowered his gaze as she spoke in a kind tone, "I can't answer your questions, dear. I'm sorry. But, perhaps it would be better if you asked yourself that question?"

"Yes, Professor..." He replied in a slightly deadened tone, turning to walk back to the table and murmuring in a voice too low for any of the others to hear, "I was afraid of that..."

He managed to hide the sudden sense of melancholy that had come over him from the other two boys. Smiling and chatting idly with them for a good space longer before restlessness began to take over. As spacious as the Great Hall was without all the house tables laid out, it still felt like they were being cooped up. The three started to try and find ways to entertain themselves. Remus pulled out a book from his bag—Amazed that not only had it survived the day he'd had, but that he'd forgotten about it completely until now. The other two started searching for ideas on what to do between themselves.

First, James had pulled out the snitch he was always carrying around with him and started playing with it until Sirius complained and pulled out a deck of cards he nicked from the library they'd been at. Those had entertained them for awhile—Charming them to do real magic tricks. At least, until Professor McGonnagall looked up from where she was grading papers and put a stop to it with a half lecture about various wizarding laws regarding charming Muggle items. So, with a pair of pouts and grumblings, the deck was put away and they tried to think of something else. Eventually the Map was quietly brought out and opened to see if it would work here the answer was yes—Almost. While their Moony appeared on the map, the adult Moony didn't. Sirius speculated that maybe he had left and really wasn't in the area, but after a veiled question to McGonnagall that idea fell out.

"Maybe it's because there's two of Moony and it's already attuned to him, so he takes priority...Or something." James muttered, scratching at the back of his neck thoughtfully.

"Yeah... That sorta makes sense, I guess." Humming, Sirius pulled out his wand and tapped the map so that it would zoom in on the hallway they had been walking before the... Incident. "We should add for the door... Just so that it'll let us know if it ever reappears."

"Agreed. You gonna do the spell?"

"Yeap. I bet I remember it best anyways—"

"Sirius."

"Okay, so Moony would probably remember best but it's been awhile since I got to update." The long haired teen pouted slightly, his eyes turning to look forlornly at his best mate, "Besides, the magic pulls it from my memory by itself...I don't need all the details at the forefront of my mind."

"Alright, alright, stop with the puppy dog look." James rolled his eyes, elbowing the other in the side, "Do the spell already, before the Professor sees."

Beaming, Sirius waved his wand and bent over the map in concentration. A moment later, he straightened and folded the map up, "I think... We should go check out what all has changed in the castle. Don't you?"

Glancing towards McGonnagall, who was still grading papers, the two boys grinned at each other. A second later they had sidled up to Remus' side and hurriedly whispered 'the plan' to him. Not that there really was one; they simply needed to inform them of what they wanted to do. A plan was formulated soon after speaking with him.

They would charm the exploding snap cards the Professor had provided them with to play themselves so it sounded like the two dark haired boys were playing. Remus would also quietly charm one of his books to turn the page at regular intervals as well as a quill to lift up and scribble random statements on a piece of parchment at different moments. Then they would leave one by one. First, James would slip out of the Great Hall. A moment later, Sirius would follow. Then Remus would come out last, and they'd head on their merry way down to Hagrid's cabin.

Setting the plan into action was easy, James and Sirius started what sounded like an intense game of Exploding Snap, falling silent long before Remus motioned them to start 'phase two'. This way, when McGonnagall looked at them wondering why they weren't making noise, she would be given the impression they were concentrating too much on winning to banter. This would also explain why the game would run for so long. Phase two, however, didn't go quite so well. Just as James was about to slip into the Entrance Hall the doors opened and he found himself looking right into a pair of twinkling blue eyes.

"Bugger..." Sighing, James did his best to smile innocently up at the Headmaster, "Hullo, Professor."

"Hello, Mr. Potter. Care to accompany to your friends to discuss your future?" Dumbledore smiled in light amusement, gesturing towards where Sirius and Remus were sitting a bit nervously. McGonnagall had looked up at this point as well and was frowning at him in annoyance.

"Yes, sir.." Sighing, James turned on his heel and led the way back over to the group.

There went any hope of adventure before the hammer came down on them. Remus and Sirius seemed to be thinking the same thing, because both were suddenly very focused on the few things that had come through the vortex with them. With yet another sigh, he spun one of the chairs at the table around and plopped down in it. Remus stood up and mimicked the action while Sirius just sat backwards on his own chair, arms crossed over the back. His wand was subtly flicked in the direction of the Exploding Snap cards, causing them to fall still.

"Do we have a verdict?" The Black heir asked lightly, as if they hadn't just been caught in the middle of sneaking out.

"Indeed we do." Dumbledore replied, nodding lightly, "The elder Remus Lupin has gone to see to it that you will have proper long term living arrangements throughout the summer. After which, if we have not discovered a way to return you to your time, I trust you will see fit to continue your schooling here."

"I don't know...Has much changed in the curriculum? It is over two decades into the future you know, there's bound to be updated school books on that stuff..." James tapped the side of his chair lightly, tilting his head back to look up at the star-speckled ceiling, "I mean, do we even have access to any funds in this world? Like, my family's account."

"I'm afraid not, my boy. The Potter vault has a owner here..." The Headmaster divulged lightly, before turning his gaze toward Sirius, eyes having lost their sparkle, "The Black vault, on the other hand, has been recently vacated over an owner. Normally, it would be passed down to the heir's predecessor. However, I think in this case an exception can be made..."

Sirius blinked, looking towards James before back to Dumbledore, "Wait a second. How can my family's vault be..._I'm_ the heir, so that would mean that my older self would have to have--"

"Bloody hell. Padfoot, you're dead!" The messy haired boy turned to stare that Sirius in disbelief.

"_I'm_ not dead, you dunderhead. Future...Me...Is dead. Bloody hell! I die young? Noooo!"

"Only in this universe, Padfoot..." Remus' voice broke through the panicked, excited talk, "That doesn't mean _you_ are going to die."

"...Right. Well, still. I can't believe that I... He... Is dead." Frowning thoughtfully, the Black heir looked up at the Headmaster with a sense of curiosity, "How? Was he an Auror? James and I have always wanted to be Aurors. Was he protecting someone?"

Dumbledore smiled sadly, "He was protecting someone very dear to him, yes. And you'll be pleased to know that person is still alive for his efforts."

"Will you tell me anything more than that?" Sirius asked, not sounding very hopeful.

"Ah, curiosity. Alas, I'm afraid I may not be the right person to fill you in on these details. Fret not, though, I'm sure you'll find your answers soon enough." Raising his hands to prevent anymore attempts at questioning, he looked between the Marauders, "For now, I would like to show you to where you'll be staying until Remus finishes those arrangements."

"Wait, you mean we're not just going to bunk in the Tower?" James sat up straight, leaning forward in excitement, "Not staying in the dorms tonight?"

"Indeed not. In fact, I believe you will find this particular room very interesting." Eyes twinkling, Dumbledore motioned for them to follow him and led the way from the Great Hall.

They followed him up many flights of stairs, to the seventh floor. James and Sirius were beginning to think that maybe they were being played as victims of a prank and really would be staying in Gryffindor tower. At least, until the Headmaster stopped in front of a door that hung across from the Barnabas the Barmy and trolls tapestry. The three teens exchanged a frown; that door had never been present before. Was even Hogwarts different in this universe?

"No way." Sirius muttered under his breath, "Remember what happened the last time we went into a door that we had never seen before?"

"Yes. After all, we're living through the results thanks to you." Remus replied dryly before shaking his head, "I don't believe that's a good way to judge this, though. After all, Professor Dumbledore has obviously asked Hogwarts to provide us with temporary living quarters or something along those lines."

"Are you ever going to let that go? Hogwarts made the door for us! It had our Animagi on it!" Sirius snapped, crossing his arms in front of him stubbornly.

"Yes, along with a few others and if you recall it wasn't exactly a happy picture."

"Knock it off, you dunderheads." James yawned, following Dumbledore through the mysterious door with a curious air.

He stopped short just a few feet inside and looked around. Sirius and Remus exchanged a glance and entered as well, halting on either side of their friend, gobsmacked. As they took in the room around them, there was only one phrase they could think of to sum up their thoughts.

"Wicked..."


	5. Chapter IV Part I

**Summary – **_Sixteen year old_ _James, Sirius and Remus have been thrown into an alternate, twisted dimension where the worlds of Reality and Harry Potter collide. Imagine all the insanity they can get into armed with a knowledge from the Books and Muggle technology—And still very mischievous minds—inside not only Hogwarts grounds, but the magical world._

Inspired by the infamous list of 586/807 things I'm not allowed to do at Hogwarts; going by Lexicon timeline; book publishing dates moved up; yaddayadda... Feel free to chime in with ideas and what-not along the way!

_Remus – Teenager; Lupin – Adult_

We'll start getting into the real fun from the list here soon, guys. I promise. I had been planning to do it here, when they finally got settled. But time got away from me and I'm heading off to a week long camp tomorrow. Didn't want to leave without giving you guys something, as I know it's been awhile. So, the one chapter is now becoming two. I promise I'll try to get the next one up before my next trip in July! And I promise it'll be something epic from the list..Maybe something to do with Harry's relatives, ey?

**Disclaimer:**_I do not own Harry Potter (J.K Rowling), or the List (kupika's Demonic_Angel and a multitude of others). I'm simply using them for my amusement and the amusement of others._

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

**Chapter IV**

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

"Wicked..." James, Sirius, and Remus had murmured that word all at once upon seeing the room beyond the door they had been led to.

Dumbledore chuckled softly and paced further into the room, waving a hand around, "Welcome, boys... To the Room of Requirement."

"I think I've read about this room before somewhere... It turns into whatever the user may need at the time, if that need is great enough, or you ask properly." Remus spoke up, looking around the spacey area.

"Like if you need to hide from someone, or something?" Sirius asked, tilting his head to the side thoughtfully, "Why haven't we ever found it before?"

"Well, I think we have, Padfoot." James was frowning, "We probably just didn't think about it at the time."

Falling silent, the Marauders took a moment to better take stock of their new living space. The room was large and held three beds, all personalized to each of the teens.

One of the beds, a mahogany four-poster, was adorned with several big, plushy red pillows and matching sheets; Sirius immediately pounced on it with an exclamation of joy. The one directly beside it was slightly bigger with a bed frame carved of dark wood. The bedding was Quidditch-themed and had a hand made red quilt with gold trimming—A lion sewn into the center of it; James walked over and quietly flopped down onto it. The last one was the most simple, almost exactly the same as the beds in the dorms. It was just a might big larger, with a few extra plush pillows on it; Remus settled into the pillows quite happily.

Next to each bed was a table, and just opposite of them was a fireplace with a small sitting area before it. A couch sitting before a coffee table with two plush arm chairs on either side of the table. Set against the wall beside the fireplace was a great bookshelf. Then across the room was a dining table and small kitchen (Sirius snorted at the thought of using it). Off in a far corner of the room was a door that presumably led to a bathroom. All in all, it was a very cozy, comfortable looking living situation.

"So how long is this for? Could get used to it..." The Black heir stated happily, barely lifting his face from the pillows on his bed to speak.

The Headmaster smiled, chuckling softly before replying, "A day, maybe two. As I said, it will only be long enough for Remus to finish the arrangements for your summer."

"So we can't just stay here for the summer?" James seemed a bit bummed at that; he had been hoping to be able to roam the empty castle...

"Indeed not." And that was all that was to be said on the matter, it seemed, as Dumbledore turned for the door, "Do remember to call for the house elves if you are hungry. The Room of Requirement is capable of many things, but not even it can conjure up food. I suggest that you also get some rest."

With that, he was gone. The Marauders looked between themselves for a moment before shrugging. James pulled out the map in order to add the room to it while Remus wandered over to the book shelf, murmuring something before grabbing a fairly small looking book from it and sitting down to read. Sirius was content to simply snuggle into his pillows; even going so far as to shift into Padfoot on the spot and curl up in the midst of them. Each content to distract themselves from reality.

And that, dear friends, was how the trio spent the remainder of their first night away from home. Well, until James got bored and convinced an odd looking House Elf covered in hats and socks, Dobby, to bring them some fire whiskey. A few charms later, and they were happily drowning out their current situation.

– – – – – – – – – –

The next morning was unpleasant for all three teens. They had woken up with hellish hangovers, none of them having the strength to so much as move an inch or even really think of getting up. In fact, no movement was made for a long while into the day and up until noon had past. At which point Sirius, unable to fight against the ill feeling inside him any longer, launched from the bed and very basically scrambled the few steps (thank you, magic) from his bedside to the bathroom. There, he paid tribute to the porcelain god for a good five minutes before James joined him—A second toilet appearing just for the messy haired boy. Remus came soon after.

An hour later found the three of them sitting in the Hospital Wing, looking miserable. Madame Pomphrey was in the middle of an intensive lecture about not only underage drinking, but also responsible drinking, when the Headmaster, Lupin, and another wizard that none of the three could be bothered to try and recognize entered. Remus was slumped up dejectedly against Sirius who, in turn, was leaning into James; the messy haired boy was currently resting his head against the cool wall that the bed they had been forced upon was against.

"Honestly. _If_ you insist on drinking, you might as well have the space of mind to not over do it." The Healer continued on, barely even acknowledging the three entered adults, "Alcohol poisoning is serious business—"

"Yes. Yes s'is." Sirius finally snapped, peeking an eye open to glare that the woman, "Now please stop bloodying lecturing? M'sure we've got point now."

"Pad, 'bloodying lecturing us' makes n'sense."

There were two groans from this, both James and Sirius seeing fit to growl out a sharp, "Shut _up, _Moon. No'ne cares." Had he not been struggling with the dragon that refused to release his head at the time, Remus would've smirked. Lupin did so for him.

Poppy, who had been frozen with rage for lack of a better term, regained her composure and straightened; administering a Pepper-Up potion to each of them. "Well, let this be a lesson to you—"

"Yeh. T'much Gryffindor Bravery s'bad." James piped up once he'd downed his in one shot, steam rolling from his ears.

"If all it takes is a hangover to get Gryffindors to admit that..." A cold drawl cut across the conversation, "Remind me to send Harry a bottle—"

"Now, Severus." Three head swiveled in that direction with the Headmaster's words, the Marauders immediately turning to look at each other in disbelief.

"They aren't just hangovers, Severus." Lupin informed the Potions Master, frowning in disapproval, "And I'll thank you to never encourage Harry into such drinking habits."

Then, suddenly, there was a yell and a crash as both James and Sirius turned and tackled Remus right off the bed. Landing with three groans on the floor, each tried to push back the nauseating feeling the movement brought up. Within seconds, Remus was pinned down by both of his friends, glaring up at them as they glared blearily right back. Sirius was panting, sitting resolutely on top of the young werewolf's legs while his hands and shoulders were pinned down by an equally exhausted looking James.

"You're first name bas's with _Snivellus_!" The messy haired boy hissed, looking intensely betrayed and leaning heavily on the arms under his hands. Remus blanched while the headmaster held up a hand to silence the enraged Potions Master before he could say anything.

"M'not!" The honey-brunette snapped, turning his head towards his older self, "He is!"

"_He's_ you!" The Black heir accused, jerking slightly with a groan when his friend tried to kick out from under him.

"No, he's a different me. _I'm_ me." Remus frowned before scoffing, "C'mon, Prongs. Y'know I'd never be first name bas's! Snape!"

There was a moment of silence where the three glared at each other before James sighed and slumped; falling forward so that his head was resting on the ground beside Remus', "Don't feel well 'nough to argue."

"m'either." Sirius mimicked the action, falling backwards to lay across his friend's legs on his back rather than sitting on them, "It hurts m'head to think about two moons. Pepper-Up gave too pepper.."

"Not 'nough up." The other two mumbled lifelessly.

Without a word, Lupin and Dumbledore pulled out their wands and levitated the three teens onto separate beds. Severus sniffed, let the Headmaster know that it would take awhile to brew the potion needed to cure alcohol poisoning, and promptly left the Wing. All of the Marauders watched him go silently, brows furrowed. Had he said _he_ was going to brew the potion to cure _them_? Snivellus was going to cure them? Sirius seemed to see the dangers of this first, and tried to shoot to a sitting position. He only managed halfway though before groaning and sinking back into a lay.

"I'm not taking from _him_." James managed to speak up for them all, curled up on his side, "He's poison."

"You've already poisoned yourself, Mister Potter." Dumbledore informed him sullenly, somehow managing to pick up on what the teen had meant, "I trust Severus will not seek any retribution towards you in the form of further harm."

"You're around." Sirius muttered as Madame Pomphrey came out of her office, carrying a tray and administering them each small doses of dreamless sleep, "But...who's...after.."

––

They slept away most of the day, only waking to grudgingly drink the potions that Snape brought. Each one seemed to taste more horrible than the next, but they couldn't complain. After all, it seemed that with each one the symptoms of the alcohol poisoning went away a bit more. As night neared, Sirius was starting to feel warmer than he had the entire day and Remus finally stopped throwing up everything that passed through his lips. James somehow managed to sleep through the entire day. He woke up right before dinner with a healthy appetite and no signs that he had even had alcohol poisoning.

Thus, he got the be the first one drilled thoroughly about good drinking habits. And then questioned as to what, exactly, they had been drinking the night before to do this in the first place. That one was easy to answer, and James retrieved his wand, pointing it towards the door and muttering a summoning charm around his meal. Within seconds, several empty bottles labeled 'Gryffindor Bravery' with decorative pictures and all, flew into the room and landed in a pile in front of the teen. He gestured to them pointedly.

"What in the world..." Madame Pomphrey stared at the pile, at a total loss for what to say.

Lupin seemed to understand after a moment of examining the bottles, and frowned, "James, please tell me you didn't..."

"Well, when we got settled in last night...The situation just sort of seemed to hit home." The messy haired boy shrugged, "So I got an idea and decided that all we needed was some Gryffindor bravery..."

"James, Gryffindor courage does _not_ come in bottles labeled fire whiskey!" The adult Marauder scolded, looking a bit put out.

"Of course not! They don't say fire whiskey, they say 'Gryffindor Bravery'." The teen argued, pointing at the pile and snorting, "Do you really think you would've let us drink fire whiskey?"

"James..."

"Charming the label to give a different name does not change the fact, Mr. Potter." Dumbledore cut in calmly, a small frown, "No matter how much you would like to think otherwise."

"Sure it does." James replied, nodding towards his friends, "It does a wonderful job of ridding us of those ruddy worries. Back home, we'd always take a shot right before a particularly risky prank."

The adults looked between each other in exasperation, sighing. Thankfully, the subject was dropped as Snape returned with a last dose of potions for the trio. James very reluctantly took his, glowering and grimacing at the Potions Master the entire time. He could swear that they weren't really potions, but fish oil. Disgusting and yet, he somehow felt better. The nausea that had been returning after his meal ebbed away, and the teen let out a sigh he wasn't aware he'd been holding in. Of course, he gratefully accepted the goblet of pumpkin juice offered to wash the taste out of his mouth.

– – – – – – – –

"You got us a place to stay?" Remus repeated in surprise, sitting in the middle of the Room of Requirement with a few books littered around him. He seemed to be taking notes, despite the fact that they were obviously works of Muggle fiction.

"That was quick." James muttered, not looking up from the game of Exploding Snap he and Sirius were immersed in.

"How long were we out of it, again?" The Black heir asked idly, glancing up and being immediately rewarded when a pair of cards exploded in his face. Coughing, he wiped the soot off and glared at his best mate, "Shut it, Prongs..."

The trio had spent an entirety of two days in the Hospital Wing. They had, of course, been completely recovered the first day but Poppy had wanted to keep them for other reasons. Each of the boys had received a thorough check up, much to their displeasure. At the end of the entire ordeal they were quite happy to return to their make-shift space and forget about it. The next day, after breakfast, the Headmaster and Lupin had come to them claiming preparations to be finished for their summer lodgings. Of course, they were a bit caught off guard that it had been handled so quickly—At least, James and Sirius were; Remus was simply smug as he continued to take notes on his reading.

"Indeed." Dumbledore only responded to the first two responses, smiling in amusement, "We were able to secure a small home in Surrey. The family that previously lived there recently came into a lot of money, and sold it to us fully furnished."

"Brilliant." James grinned, straightening up, "When do we leave?"

"...Did you say Surrey?" Remus asked, looking from his books and notes back to Dumbledore. When the Headmaster nodded, he went on to ask, "Where in Surrey?"

"Little Whinging. Number Six Privet Drive, to be exact." Nodding slowly, the honey-brunette returned to his books quietly, but no longer seemed to be reading them. "You will be residing there by yourselves for the majority of the time. However, you will find that I will be sending some friends to check in on you every other day."

Sirius, who had perked at the thought of living alone, promptly deflated. What sort of fun would it be if they were being watched and examined every other day? That was like your parents telling you they were going away for the weekend and then they wind up calling every ten minutes. Only, this would probably be worse. They wouldn't know when these 'friends' would be popping up, most likely, and that increased the chances of being caught. Very boring prospect, it seemed.

"I must ask that you refrain from using your magic, as it is a Muggle neighborhood." All three teens exchanged a look, each highly doubting that they would refrain from anything now that they knew their magic was untraceable. "You will find that you're not the only Hogwarts students living on Private Drive. There is one other who I'm sure will be glad of your presence, should you choose to reveal yourselves to him."

This raised up many questions from the trio, but each were silently deflected as Lupin conjured a watch, "There are trunks with proper muggle and wizard wardrobes for each of you in the house."

They went on to explain that the strange house elf from the night before would be around the house if they needed anything. For some reason, Lupin pointed out that he had a fondness for socks and a slew of other useless facts. All said and done an hour later the trio stood outside their new, temporary home with only a bare understanding of things. James knew that their magic was untraceable, but also that there were strict laws surrounding exposing Muggles to the magical world. Sirius and he had never really done a great job of that to begin with, but they had promised to be careful. Remus' only concerns had been locations of places like the library, grocer, and park. Sirius? Well...He was still too busy pouting over being dropped in on every other day to really care.

"Well, we're not getting anywhere just standing here." James muttered finally, looking around the rather boring street and frowning at the heads peeking out of doors and windows before heading towards the house. "Let's get out of sight."

"I couldn't agree more." Glancing around the street as well, Sirius flashed everyone a bright, charming smile before darting towards the door and inside the house with the other. Remus, book bag packed and nose stuck in a book, followed along behind at a slower pace.

"Well...It's certainly..." The Black heir murmured as he walked through the hall to the dining room, following it through to a sitting room, then finally a kitchen.

"Cosy." James supplied, having already found the kitchen and examining the number of strange appliances that were present, "I'm not quite sure what any of this is...What else is supposed to be here?"

"Dumbledore said there were four rooms upstairs, and a bathroom." Remus recalled, "But I'm not sure about any of those things. I suppose we should stay away from the electronics until we get a better grasp on the fact that we're twenty one years into the future."

"Yeah. Maybe you should work on that, Moony. So we don't kill ourselves." Sirius muttered, eyeing the appliances warily now as well.

"Or we can just store them away and do things the good ol'fashion wizard way." Grinning, James whipped out his wand and waved it at the unknown items, causing them to shoot away and store themselves in an empty cupboard.

"James...You know we can't—"

"Sure we can. After all, this is _our_ home now. The Muggles don't know what goes and as long as we keep it dull enough to not raise suspicion on first glance inside the house, I think we'll do fine." The messy haired teen shrugged at the disapproving look from the honey brunette, grinning. "Muggles rarely see what's directly under their nose, anyways. Only what they want to see."

"Yeah. We'll just put our glamouring skills to work and make the Muggles see an ordinary, non-magical home." Sirius had already pulled out his wand and was transfiguring the kitchen into something more roomy and appropriate to their likings, "Isn't there a basement here, too? We can get familiar with those Weasley products down there, I bet."

"Definitely. By the time term rolls around, I bet we'll be more than ready to dive into the future of our pranking and education." That, at least, earned a wary grin from Remus; one that James was all too eager to return, "Come on, Moony. Put down the books and help us personalize this place."

"...Alright, then. I'll handle the glamours and set up some basic wards. You two make this place more comfortable." Ignoring the cheers from his friends, the bookworm closed his reading material and put it into his bag before making his way to the back yard and garden. A moment later he called back, "Oi! There's a green house back here!"

"Wicked!" James called back, laughing as he turned to Sirius, "I'll handle things down here. You take the bedrooms, Padfoot."

"You got it." Spinning on his heel, Sirius sprinted out of the kitchen and could be heard running up the stairs in the hall.

– – –

"Done!" James sank with a happy sigh into one of the plush red arm chairs he had transfigured in the sitting room, propping his feet up on the matching foot rest. Glancing around, he grinned at the room before him, "Merlin, I am _so_ good."

The messy haired teen had taken it upon himself to turn the downstairs into something with a nice, welcoming Gryffindor theme. It had started with the kitchen; the thing needing the least changing. He'd hidden the appliances away safely and brought out the more hands-on cooking tools before moving onto the dining room. Again, not much to change. Changed the place mats to red with golden trimmings, made the chairs more comfortable and headed to the living room. That was where it had gotten tricky. There was a nice fireplace already, but only one stingy arm chair and a lumpy couch in front of a short, ugly looking coffee table; facing what he assumed was an oversized, incomplete telly. Off to the side, a small unstable book rack.

To start, he had stashed the telly and a radio (he was glad to recognize something) into a cupboard under the stairs. James had made sure to magically enlarge the inside of it so it would hold everything without damaging them. Next, he separated and transfigured the couch into three nice, plush red arm chairs similar to the ones in the Gryffindor common room then lengthened and transformed the stingy arm chair into a long, comfy couch. The coffee table was quickly divided into several different pieces from which he made three foot rests for the arm chairs; a new and improved mahogany coffee table with a fruit bowl and elegant designs; a smaller table to place a chess set on, along with another set of chairs on either side of it where the telly had been, and firewood. The book rack was turned into a large mahogany book shelf which looked a bit sad being empty, but the messy haired teen was sure that Remus would fix that very soon. The windows were enlarged a bit and given window seats, with crimson drapes. A mixture of the common room and dorms back at Hogwarts, and very welcoming.

Sirius came down the stairs and entered the sitting room with a grin on his face, "Rooms are done. Got some help from the Room of Requirement for the beds, but for the most part I thought to just mimic your room for you, mesh both of ours together for mine, and pulled inspiration from the dorm and his personality for Moony."

"...I think I followed that." James quirked an eyebrow, smiling, "You meshed our old room themes together as inspiration for your room?"

"Yeap. I liked those posters, you know."

"I'm sure you did." Remus entered the room, letting out a low whistle as he looked around, "Brilliant job, Prongs. Feels much more like home, now."

"I know, right? There wasn't much to work with, but I managed it without having to conjure anything." Completely smug, the messy haired teen leaned back in his arm chair, arms behind his head, "I even made a nice roomy bookshelf for you to fill up. Anyway, you finish with the glamour and wards?"

"Yes. Couldn't do much over such a big space, but they're up." Sighing softly, the young werewolf let himself sink into one of the arm chairs as well while Sirius spread out on the couch.

"Awesome, Prongs and I can strengthen them before we head out to see the neighborhood."

"Yeah. But first..." James frowned at the empty mantle place, "It's sorta missing something. Something distinctly Marauder."

The other two hummed in agreement, looking around the room thoughtfully before Remus suddenly straightened, "Oi, I've got an idea. _Accio bookbag_."

As his bag came flying into view, the teen caught it deftly and began rummaging through the contents. Rather confused, the two dark haired Marauders watched as their friend pulled out a thick looking binder. Holding up a hand, he silenced any questions or protests and proceeded to flip the book open to the first page. Immediately, the confusion was ended and James and Sirius both exclaimed in triumph and shot to a stand.

There, spelled carefully to the very first page of the binder-book, was a picture of four laughing First Years sitting around a deck of Exploding Snap. An eleven year old Remus was covered in soot, as was a young Sirius. James was grinning triumphantly and as they looked on, he reached over to grab Peter and pull him in for an excited victory hug while the other two future Marauders playfully shoved each other all the while grinning for James' father, who had taken the photo.

"Geeze, I'd forgotten about the scrapbook...That was our first Christmas together." Sirius muttered, moving closer and perching on the arm of the chair to stair at the picture.

"I remember, we spend the last part of the holiday at my parent's house because the boy dorms were...Well, you guys remember." A faint grin came over the young Potter's expression, "Our first prank gone horribly wrong."

"Ah...Those were the days. Something new was waiting for us around every corner." Sighing wistfully, the long haired teen took the scrape book and proceed to flip through it. He stopped near the middle of the book, "Ahhh! I remember this picture, we convinced Evans to take a picture of us on our first trip to Hogsmeade!"

James leaned over to take a look and grinned, "Let's frame some of these and spread them around. It'll be nice to look at them, if we do wind up stuck here for awhile."

_Or forever._ All three of them thought it, but no one saw fit to say the words out loud. So, five minutes later they had spread out a handful of framed photos around the room. Not much longer after that, the two dark haired teens had strengthened the wards and all three of them were setting out to explore the neighborhood.

_**TBC**_


	6. Chapter IV Part II

**Summary – **_Sixteen year old_ _James, Sirius and Remus have been thrown into an alternate, twisted dimension where the worlds of Reality and Harry Potter collide. Imagine all the insanity they can get into armed with a knowledge from the Books and Muggle technology—And still very mischievous minds—inside not only Hogwarts grounds, but the magical world._

Inspired by the infamous list of 586/807 things I'm not allowed to do at Hogwarts; going by Lexicon time line; book publishing dates moved up; yaddayadda... Feel free to chime in with ideas and what-not along the way!

_Remus – Teenager; Lupin – Adult_

Alright, I'm back with an update! Camp was fun, I'm exhausted and revitalized. Just wanna warn that there may be a lull in updates for a bit. I'm currently without a home and looking for a job, so there might not be much time to write out chapters but I promise I won't drop this story!

Also, this chapter is a bit serious, but I've included a nice mix of Rules number 25, 31, and 38. If you don't know what those are now, you will by the end of this chapter. By the way, logic or not, Sirius _is_ going to have his bike. Because I love him enough to give him the dangerous vehicle of his dreams. Happy Reading!

**Disclaimer:**_I do not own Harry Potter (J.K Rowling), or the List (kupika's Demonic_Angel and a multitude of others). I'm simply using them for my amusement and the amusement of others._

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

**Chapter IV**

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

"Geeze, what a boring looking place." Sirius muttered under his breath as they walked around the street, "Leave it to Muggles to be so... Mundane."

"Yeah. Seriously, I think we need to make a statement here, guys." James declared suddenly, clapping his hands together as he looked at all the similar houses about them, "Our place will stand out. Not in a tasteless, tacky way. But in a loud, cool, and totally unsuspicious way!"

"I think you may have just contradicted yourself, Prongs." Remus informed him lightly, not taking his eyes away from scanning the numbers of the houses they were passing for a second time.

The Marauders had already circled the neighborhood once and were making a second round to make sure that they knew any and every route in the area. Or, at least, most of them. It would take much longer than a few hours to become totally familiar with their new neighborhood. But hey, at least this way they were promised something that could keep hold of their attention for more than a few brief seconds...Right? Either way, now that they were passing through for their second round Remus was keeping an eye out for the house that Dumbledore and Lupin had divulged the other wizarding boy was living at.

His search was distracted, however, by Sirius suddenly calling, "Oy! Someone's heading for our place!" and darting down the rest of the street to reach their new house just after what looked to be a group of housewives. Remus and James hurried after him, all three alighting onto the step in front of the house. How had they got into the gate and around the group of women? Easy enough, they hopped the fence.

"Hullo." The Black heir spoke as his friends joined him, turning his back on the door, "Is there anything I can do for you ladies?"

"Are your parents home?" One of the women, a thin blond with an abnormally long neck asked, a rather strange looking smile on her face, "We thought that we would welcome your family to the neighborhood."

"...Oh. Er, no, my parents aren't home right the minute." Sirius stammered, a bit caught off guard by the sudden miscalculation popping up, "They're currently, er..."

"Mother and Father stayed behind at the old house for a few days so as to finish handling some things." James cut in smoothly, quickly adapting to his 'good and proper son' mode that was normally only seen when the elder Potters were around, "I've no doubt that they would love to meet you all when they arrive next week."

Both Remus and Sirius looked at him in light alarm. What in the world was he doing? They didn't have parents! And even if any of them were alive, it definitely wouldn't matter to them here. This thought didn't seem to bother the messy haired teen though; in fact the only thing that seemed to put him off was a strange look that the woman who had spoken was giving him. As if he reminded her of something unpleasant. James decided that he definitely didn't like that woman.

"Your parents are allowing three teenagers to stay alone in their new home?" One of the other woman asked in shock; the trio tried not to be insulted by the way she had implied that to be a bad thing.

"Not quite so, ma'am." Remus replied quietly, taking his turn in spinning their background story, "You see, there's some friends of the family that are going to be checking in every so often for our parents. On the other hand, it's simply a formality. After all, we've never given our parents any reason to believe we couldn't be trusted for a few days."

"Of course not, dear." Another lady spoke up, giving a tentative smile, "You understand our concern, though. After all, a week is a long time to go without an adult around to see you're properly fed and provided for."

Sirius offered them a beaming smile and nodded, "Of course, miss. But please, don't worry on our account. My brothers and I are expert survivalists, I'm sure there can't be much of a difference between cooking over a campfire and a stove...Right?"

All of the woman gasped and there was a chorus of 'Poor dears!', 'Never even used a stove before!' and 'Only ever cooked campfire food!'. Remus had to give his friend some respect points; he had just assured them good terms with the neighborhood through the sympathy factor. He'd probably even assured them some (hopefully) great home cooked meals. At least, for awhile. Then they would have to come up with a new excuse for the absence of their parents. Hopefully Dumbledore or Lupin would be of some help in that area...

It took several minutes after that to dissuade the group of ladies from entering their home. Excuses such as 'still a mess from the move' and 'boxes are everywhere, no sitting room' were the most effective, even though they triggered offers to help clean up the place. All of which the boy hurriedly and respectfully turned down. Soon enough, however, they were left alone on the doorstep of the house and exchanging rather bemused looks. Perhaps it was a bad idea to accept the adults help. After all, they had just been forced to figure out their own back story on the fly and it had definitely not ended very well. Who in the world would double as _all_ of their parents? Convincingly?

"We'll have to ask my older self and hope that Dumbledore's Order has someone who could pass as the mother of you two." Remus muttered as they slipped inside the house, "Then we can say something like you're fraternal twins."

"Yeah, and that Lupin was married before our 'mom' and so had you with his previous wife." Sirius added helpfully, setting down a plate of pasties that one of the woman had handed him on the coffee table. He then proceeded to flop into one of the armchairs James had made and devour one, "Mmm...Sugar."

"It would be the best way to explain why we're all practically the same age." James agreed, grabbing one of the pasties himself, "But on to other topics; that blond lady invited us for tea later. Do you think we should play good little neighbors and go?"

"I didn't really like her, actually. Pity that son of hers, whoever he is." Sirius muttered, crossing his arms behind his head once the pasty was gone, "But I suppose we have to. After all, it's the proper conduct isn't it? And Dumbledore told us to keep a low key profile for whatever reason...It wouldn't do to have an entire neighborhood turned against us within the first twenty-four hours."

"Indeed...Besides, maybe this will let us meet that other wizard kid. She did say that it was for her son and his friends." Remus added in thoughtfully, "We might get lucky."

Sighing, the messy haired boy nodded, "Then I suppose we have to. But hey, if it's too boring we can always create a bit of innocent mischief."

"Prongs...You know we can't do anything around Muggles."

"Anything visible, you mean. No one ever said anything about doing something behind the scenes, Moony."

Grinning suddenly, Sirius leaned forward, "What did you have in mind, Prongs? We have a couple hours to plan."

It was, after all, only one o'clock. Tea was at three thirty on the dot, and the woman had pointed out her house to them—Actually, it was right next door to their own home. Not a prospect that any of the teens were fond of knowing. Still, James noted that it would be much easier to prepare any sort of entertainment as well as scout out what kind of family and people they would be going around. On the other hand, they were careful to clarify the risks such would mean for their lives here. It wasn't hard to see that the woman was an extremely nosy person. They had faith in their wards and spell work, but it would still probably be a good idea to have one of the adults double check everything. Preferably the elder Remus.

In the end, James and Sirius had decided on something subtle that could be done in the midst of many people and wouldn't result in Ministry involvement. It was around that time that they heard the roar of a motorcycle engine coming down the street. And not just any motorcycle, Sirius realized with a jolt. It sounded exactly like the one he had gotten from his friends for Christmas. Leaping to his feet, the dark haired boy ran from the house to the driveway. He was met with the sight of a tall, thin male with a long red ponytail, dressed in what Sirius thought to be some sort of rocker clothing, a fanged earring attached to one ear. All in all, the Black heir instantly liked the man getting off of what he recognized as his motorcycle.

"Hey there, Dumbledore filled me in on your guys' situation." The redhead told them as the trio got into earshot (Sirius well ahead of the other two), "That's some serious bad luck there, mates. Hagrid and I figured that you might appreciate having this little beauty with you in the unfamiliar territory."

Once he finished speaking, the man tossed a set of keys to Sirius. With a whoop, he leapt onto the bike and kicked it to life, "Whoa, it feels a bit...Different."

"I'm not surprised, it's had a lot of upkeep and upgrades over the years." The man told him with a bit of a sad smile, "The name is Bill, by the way. Bill Weasley."

"Another Weasley, huh..." James frowned warily at Bill now, "You're not going to attack us without warning too, are you?"

The red head laughed, "No, not at all. Please forgive my younger brothers for that... Incident, by the way." He shrugged, "Everyone is on edge these days. What with... Well, I'm sure you've already been filled in."

"No, not at all." Sirius dismounted his bike, vowing to take it into the back yard later and give it a once over, "So far, whenever we ask for some sort of information, the adults have brushed us off or been vague... I only know that I—er, my older self, died protecting someone he loved."

"And I don't know anything about my older self, but I get the feeling that I probably won't like it." James added, running a hand through his hair, "Point is, we're totally clueless here... It sort of makes you nervous."

"I see... Well, why don't we go inside and I'll provide you guys with whatever answers I can... Though, I can't really promise much."

"Anything is better than nothing." Remus told him quietly, before waving a hand back towards the house, "Come on, let's get inside before we attract too much attention."

Nodding, the others followed him back into the house. Once inside, Bill let loose a low whistle, "You three sure know how to redecorate. Where did you learn all of this?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised the amount of spells we've had to learn in order to ensure that our pranks went well." Sirius answered in complete, well, seriousness, "Moony wouldn't let us do anything otherwise, and that certainly takes a lot of fun out of the thing."

"Not to mention, Transfiguration is my best subject." James added, grinning as they settled back into the living room, "Moony must have read every spell book in the library back home, too. So that always helps."

"Sirius and James have their families to thank for a lot of things, as well." Remus stated quietly, smiling weakly, "After all, without some of those books...Well, half the things we've done would have been far more dangerous than needed."

The three of them lapsed into silence, staring off aimlessly around the room for a moment. Bill wondered if they were thinking about the missing member of their group, looking around at the pictures donning the walls and mantle. Peter Pettigrew was in near every picture present. Posing by a brand new motorbike with a beaming Sirius; holding up the plans for what looked like an extremely amusing prank with Remus; wrestling playfully with James... The eldest Weasley son found it hard to think of the teenage boy in the pictures as the traitor who had cost Lily and James Potter their lives. The Marauders before him hardly seemed content without their fourth and final member around to cheer on their antics.

"...Anyways. Answers." The ring leader of the group snapped out of his thoughts a bit suddenly, and worked to push the conversation to what he hoped would be happier territory, "What's gone on with the war in the last twenty years?"

"Geeze, you really jump straight into the heart of something, don't you?" Bill blinked a few times, before shaking his head, "I had really hoped that you would ask something else but, well... I suppose it's foolish to hope against the obvious."

"Yeah. It was the biggest talk around school, the war." Sirius told him, nodding to himself distractedly, "I remember all of the seventh years over the years who had to chose whether or not they were going to support You-Know-Who."

"Yes, well... He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was—Defeated, I suppose you could say, around fifteen years ago." Bill started, seeming uneasy with the topic. Only Remus seemed to not be surprised by this (a curious thing, that), and both James and Sirius exclaimed in disbelief, "A family did it... A very brave, kind couple died to protect their child. Then, when he... Tried to kill the child as well, the spell backfired on him instead."

"Whoa A kid did that?" James muttered in awe, "No way. How old were they?"

"A year. Only a year." Was the reply, and the messy haired boy noticed that the man was avoiding his gaze, "It was...The child's mother that made it possible. Dumbledore... He says that the love put forth from her sacrifice was enough to protect the child from You-Know-Who's spell."

"Wow... Imagine that. Lose your family when you're too young to really remember them, and gain the status of the Savior of the Wizarding World." Sirius shook his head, "I don't think I'd wish that for anyone."

"No one would." Bill shook his head, frowning, "The couple were some of the...Well, they were liked by everyone. You couldn't look for better friends, my mom once told me, than those two. No one more kind, or brave."

"You had to have been pretty young back when all that happened." Remus observed, before biting his lip and asking the question that he was sure Bill wouldn't want to answer, "Who was it? The couple, I mean. Did we know them?"

From the silence that followed, the three teens confirmed the answer to part of that question for themselves; they did indeed know the couple who had died. Before Bill could answer, though, the door to the house opened and in walked Lupin, a grim frown in place. All of the room's occupants turned to look at him in surprise. The Weasley boy gained a faint red tint to his cheeks upon noticing the glare being sent his way. However, the older male didn't address him right away. Instead, his face softened and looked between the three teens.

"We were very close to them... Inseparable." His voice was low and tired as his eyes finally landed on James, "We were like family."

"...Oh." James muttered, lowering his gaze as Lupin sat down on the couch.

"I will answer all of your questions. Bill is needed back at Gringotts, however, to ensure that Sirius can gain access to his family vault." He sent a pointed look towards the eldest Weasley boy, who blinked and nodded quickly. Standing, Bill bade goodbye to the three teenagers and promised to visit again before turning to sweep from the room.

"Looks like we'll be missing tea tonight. Should we send word?" Remus spoke quietly, even though everyone was well aware that everything said was a mere formality.

"Well, we never said whether or not we were coming in the first place and it's not like we can send Dobby or an owl to decline the offer." James replied before grinning and looking at Sirius, "But we _can_ send a dog with a missive."

"Yea—Wait, what? You want me to play mail carrier?" Scowling, the Black heir crossed his arms, "No way."

"Oh, come on Padfoot. It would be fun. You could impress people with your intelligence as a dog." The teen werewolf grinned, all three of the young Marauders quite happy to put off the full explanation of what had happened in the last twenty years for a little bit longer.

It took a few moments and several very good arguments as to why he should do what they wanted, but eventually Sirius relented into playing messenger dog. Thus, Remus and James hurried to comply together a note explaining their absence from the tea session while Padfoot lay sprawled pouting on the ground. Lupin idly pet the mass of sleek black fur with a sense of amusement, and even conjured a red collar ornamented with the Gryffindor lion so they could attach the note to it. Not a moment later, James was transfiguring a doggy door into existence on the front door and the massive dog was trotting down the garden path, jumping over the fence, and heading next door.

He was met by a boy that looked to be about the same age as Sirius and his mates. In fact, he looked scarily like James did only... Skinnier, less healthy, and a bit bruised up. This, Padfoot decided, would be what James would look like if he was starved and had been on the losing side of too many fights... Or if he had just learned of Lily Evan's death. Or both. Yeah, both. Oh, and if he had a strange scar on his forehead. The mutt's heart went out to the boy, who was wearing clothing that was far too large for him... What in Merlin's name had that lady, Mrs. Dursley she had called herself, and her husband done to their son?

The boy looked up suddenly, as if sensing that he wasn't alone anymore. Startling green eyes stared at Padfoot for a moment before widening in surprise and... Was that hope? Why did the boy look hopeful at seeing a dog, of all things? Maybe they had lost theirs, and he had mistaken Sirius for his trusty companion. Yeah, the mutt thought as he watched the light die from the boy's eyes just as quickly as it had appeared, that was definitely it. Poor kid, he should cheer him up.

"Woof!" Bounding over to the teen, Padfoot wagged his hair and gave his best 'doggy grin', just begging to be pet. The boy hesitated for just a second before slowly reaching out to pat the top of his head, "Woof!"

"Hey, boy... Where'd you come from? For a moment I thought..." The boy stopped himself, and closed his eyes painfully. Sensing his distress, the dog whined sympathetically and nuzzled him gently, "Sorry. I'm just a little sad... You remind me of someone I miss very much. Heh... For a second there, I even thought that you were him."

Yeap. Definitely a long lost pet. Ah, poor guy. He must have been really close to his dog, "Woof."

"Ha...Yeah. Woof." Sighing softly, the boy suddenly blinked as he caught sight of the note attached to Padfoot's collar, "Hm? What's this? A note?"

Suddenly remembering what he was doing here to begin with, the mutt jumped to all fours and turned around in an excited circle, barking. Startled, the teen hurried to calm him down and take the paper out of his collar, unfolding it to read. His brow furrowed after a moment, and the boy tilted his head to examine the house Sirius, James, and Remus were staying in. Of course, nothing was out of the ordinary with the place, except the fact that there was some motorbike parked in the driveway. No one on Private Drive owned motorbikes, it was like. Taboo or something.

"Oh, so Aunt Petunia invited your family over to have tea with Dudley and his friends. I see." The teen muttered, glancing back at his house and biting his lip, "But they can't come, is that it?" Barking, Padfoot spun in a circle and wagged his tail excitedly, "Okay, okay, calm down. I'll bring the note to my Aunt, but she probably won't like it... It's okay, though, because honestly I don't think your family would want to meet Dudley and his gang. Just a bunch of spoilt bullies."

Barking again, Padfoot tilted his head curiously, very interested in hearing what the other had to say about these people he was apparently living with, "Ruf?"

"Yeah... Though, I don't suppose I could decide whether or not your family would like them. After all, I've never met any of them." A pause, before the boy sighed softly, "I mean, I've met plenty of people who would get along swell with Dudley. Malfoy and him would be best mates. Anyways, you should probably get back home, huh? Go on, then."

Barking, Padfoot stayed just long enough to get his ears scratched lightly before turning and making his way back to his own house, where he had some interesting news to divulge to James and Remus. He hadn't realized until the Malfoy name was mentioned that he had been interacting with someone from their world. It must have been the other student that Dumbledore and full Moony had mentioned earlier that day. Only a wizard would know his cousin, after all, and live to tell about it.

"So, mission successful I presume?" Remus asked once he had slipped back inside and returned to human form. Sirius stretched out, scratching the back of his neck thoughtfully.

"Yeah. I met that other student, I think. He mentioned the Malfoys." Glancing at Lupin, he noted the slight loss of—more—color, "I actually... He seemed sad. Lonely, even. I think he just lost his dog, because he told me I reminded me of someone he missed."

"Harry..." Lupin muttered softly, frowning. Suddenly, he looked a lot more pained, "He's had a very hard time of it these last few weeks. Someone very close to his heart... Died.."

"Oh..." Sirius bit his lip and looked down. No wonder the boy had looked so horrible. He was in mourning; Sirius remembered when his grandfather had passed. His mother had looked horrible for weeks. She'd barely eaten anything and spent most of her time crying.

"Speaking of death." James cleared his throat awkwardly, glancing at his best mates before pressing forward, "Why... Why don't we start at the beginning? Like. Before the... Incident."

Sirius perked up at that thought and straightened, "Yeah. Tell us about our lives. What did we do for our last two years at Hogwarts and after?"

Grinning suddenly and obviously grateful that the young Marauders wanted to talk about something happy instead of heading straight to the bad things, Lupin chuckled, "Our pranks for the last two years were...Well, the teachers had their hands full. Seventh was the best, though. James and Lily were Head Boy and Girl. They influenced each other a bit, every so often Lily would take part in our...Antics. In fact, towards graduation, she actually dared James and Sirius to do something very... Well, let's just say that the backlash was rather bad from the teachers; but the students lightened up."

"Really? Sounds like our normal run of the mill thing.. What did Evans do?" James was sitting on the edge of his seat, hardly seeming to believe his ears. He and Evans... During seventh year? Him, Head Boy?

"Well..."

—_Flashback; June 1977, Dinner—_

_The Hall was filled with chattering students. It wasn't exactly the happy kind of chattering. At the end of this school year, a lot of the Seventh Years were heading off to either join He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or to try and help the fight against them. End of Term was never a very pleasant time anymore, not since You-Know-Who's rise to power. This year it seemed the worst; the war was in full swing and each week had come with more losses and mysterious vanishings than the Ministry would care to admit. Auror Moody had come through a day or so before to take stock of who would be applying for the Aurors. The Marauders had overheard him telling the Headmaster that the applicants had cut down by half since the year before._

_Sirius and James, of course, were heading straight for Auror Training after graduation. All of them had already been in talks with Dumbledore about joining the cause. This would be their last week together for a bit, and everyone knew it. So, they did the natural thing one should do in such a situation. They allowed Lily to convince them into one final stunt—And deemed fit to put on one final show for their classmates._

_It started with Peter and Sirius bursting into the Great Hall, decked out in great billowing black robes from head to toe. The only sign that they weren't real Death Eaters was the fact that they were wearing Muggle hockey masks over their faces. Striding down the hall, the two Marauders leapt (and scrambled) up onto the Slytherin table and stood side by side. Then, in the dead silence that had fallen over the room, Sirius thrust his fist into the air (making the sleeve fall down to reveal and horribly drawn Dark Mark), and yelled._

"_Long live Lord Moldsmart!" Peter went to mimic him but paused and turned to hurriedly whisper into the others ear, "Eh? Not Moldsmart? No? Ah, I see. Sorry. Ahem!" The two adjusted themselves and appeared to make ready and say the proper phrase when suddenly James burst into the hall wearing long, billowing magenta robes._

_Without hesitation, he leapt onto the Gryffindor table and pointed dramatically towards the two mock-Death Eaters, "Hold! You, there! Don't you know that I'm the New Dark Lord?"_

"_New Dark Lord?" The two exclaimed, looking bewildered, "Impossible!"_

"_Indeed not! Your puny Dark Lord is old news! Snakes are the trends of yesterday! I have risen to power at a phenomenal rate and have come to claim the members of this school as my personal army!" He coughed, looking away and muttering, "Under the guise of a school."_

"_You speak lies! There are too many loyal to our Lord! None would think of joining you!" Sirius yelled, flailing an arm and 'accidentally' knocking over his younger brother's pumpkin juice with his boot. Regulus appropriately exclaimed in rage and leapt to his feet with intention of drying off his robes. His brother had different ideas and reached down to yank him up onto the table as well, "See? This one stands to show his agreement! You'll never succeed!"_

"_But I already have!" At that moment, Remus walked in with his nose buried into a book, looking perfectly innocent in this whole strange ordeal. James turned and pointed at him, "You there! Studious boy who doesn't look like he'd be easily convinced into any abnormal or evil group!" The werewolf looked up at his friend and pointed at himself, looking perfectly puzzled, "Yes, you! Come hither!"_

_Looking around the room, Remus seemed to take in the situation before giving a small shrug and snapping his book closed. Without a seconds pause, he walked up and climbed up onto his House Table beside James. Then, in a clear voice asked, "Yes, your Evil Lordship?"_

_A gasp rippled through the room and it took all of the Marauders control to not break character. Clearing his throat, James pointed down, "Kneel, and I shall show these fools what a _real_ Dark Mark looks like!"_

_Doing so, Remus looked up at the other teen rather than bowing his head. Everyone watched as the 'New Dark Lord' pulled out a black marker and worked to draw something quickly on his friend's forehead. Sirius and Regulus got into a quiet squabble over on the Slytherin table, resulting in Regulus being banished from the top of the table. Once finished, he put the pen away and gestured for Remus to stand and show everyone his handiwork._

"_Behold! The NEW Dark Mark!" Waving an arm as Remus turned around slowly a few times, James gestured to the smiley face he'd just drawn, "Far better than your Lord's puny snake and skull!"_

_Sirius and Peter gasped, the smaller male exclaiming, "It... It is beautiful! Truly, he is the New Dark Lord!"_

"_No! My friend, do not be tricked by—Actually, you know what? Go ahead and defect, I don't care. One less person to share the pudding with." Waving a disinterested hand, Sirius watched Peter turn to climb down from the table before suddenly kicking him in the rear and sending him toppling, "Traitor! Die!"_

_A mock-wave of his wand, squeak, and poof of smoke later, Peter had vanished. Everyone gasped, but there wasn't much time to react as James clapped his hands suddenly and yelled in gibberish, wiggling his fingers. Another poof of smoke went off next to him and Remus, and there was the sound of scrambling before the smoke cleared, Peter now standing triumphantly on the Gryffindor table, happy face drawn proudly on his forehead._

"_Curses! Foiled again! Is there nothing to be done about this New Dark Lord?" Sirius exclaimed.  
_

"_Yes, yes there is!" Remus suddenly declared, quite the change from the quiet boy he'd been just a moment ago, "Join us and accept the fate of your dying religion. Accept the awesome and unyielding might of the New Dark Lord and together, we'll overthrow your old Lord and rid him from the world!"_

_This earned an eruptious cheer from the majority of the Great Hall. The Slytherins area was suspiciously quiet but Sirius pretended to be considering the offer. Then, with a shrug he crouched down and jumped over some Slytherin's heads to land on the ground behind them._

"_Alright, then. Let's free the world of the other evil git." The final member of the Marauders conceded, making his way over to his House Table and climbing up onto it himself before pausing, "By the way, what should we call ourselves?"_

"_Why, that's easy my new minion!" James quickly scribbled a smiley face on Sirius' forehead, "We'll be called the Marauders! And this will be our Age!"_

_Grinning, the other three nodded and then blinked when Lily suddenly stood up and exclaimed, "Long live the Age of Marauders!"_

"_Long live the Age of Marauders!" The four plus several other voices echoed as the hall erupted into cheers at what they saw as a happy ending. Not only that, but a clear declaration from the Marauders themselves that they were going into this war expecting to change things for the better. The teachers even clapped a bit, before Dumbledore cleared his throat and stood, eyes twinkling._

"_Thank you for that...Interesting show, boys. I have no doubt that each of you, and the rest of our seventh year students, will go on to do great things." The Headmaster spoke clearly and the hall erupted into cheers again before settling down when it was obvious he was planning to continue, "Would you please join myself and Professor McGonagall?"_

_Wincing, the boys helped each other down (it really was more difficult than it looked, with these robes), before making their way up to the adults. Dumbledore and McGonagall led them through the door behind the Head Table._

—_End Flashback—_

"Whoa, we—you actually did that?" Sirius muttered in amazement, grinning to himself. The war where they had come from was only half a decade old, but everyone knew how serious it was. It was amazing that their older selves had even been willing to do that.

"Yeah. We all thought that it would be the best bet to lighten everyone's mood." Lupin smiled with a bit of sadness, "It was James' idea, for the most part. Sirius... Helped figure out how we could make it more amusing and lighthearted."

"Of course, I've always had the best sense of humor out of all of us!" Sirius exclaimed, grinning at the other two with a sense of triumph.

"Yeah, and the most cheesy." Remus muttered, shaking his head.

"Hey!"

"He's got a point, Padfoot." James smirked, before seeming to sober up. Looking at Lupin, he frowned and asked, "You mentioned that Sirius and I were going for Auror training. Did we make it?"

"Mhm...Sirius got his own place shortly after graduation, his uncle had left him an inheritance. James and Lily moved in together around the same time and got married shortly after."

"Married... I married Evans..." Grinning again, James straightened and looked at his friends, "Oy! I married Evans! I told you she would come around eventually."

"Indeed. Once your ego sized down a bit at the start of seventh year, Lily started being more receptive to your advances."

The statement made the other boys snicker and mutter, "Told ya." Lupin, of course, was unphased by the glare the messy hair teen had leveled at him.

"Okay so, I got an inheritance and Prongs married Evans. What about you, Moony?" Sirius asked, lounging back now.

"After the wedding, I had to leave for awhile. Dumbledore needed someone who could talk to the werewolf clans. We needed help, and that was deemed my job for awhile." He laughed, but it sounded bitter, "It didn't do much good, though. I came back for a few months when Lily had her child. Had Harry."

"Harry? Isn't the boy next store named-" Sirius started, but Lupin held up a hand to silence him, nodding.

"Harry, yes. He's the same person. Let me continue, and you can put the dots together as we go."

Looking between one another, the trio nodded. Lupin took a moment to call Dobby, asking him to bring some tea and biscuits before settling back into the couch. He suddenly looked a lot older, and tired. Remus felt his stomach jump slightly at seeing his older self like such, and wondered at the events that must have happened to make him such. He was sure they were about to find out, and settled back himself to listen.

By the time Lupin would finish his tale, the refreshments Dobby had brought would be completely untouched. Three teens would sit still as stone in their seats, torn between horror, rage, and uncertainty of what to do next. Several moments passed in this fashion, until Sirius drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"Well, I guess we all know what we have to do."


	7. Chapter V

**Summary – **_Sixteen year old_ _James, Sirius and Remus have been thrown into an alternate, twisted dimension where the worlds of Reality and Harry Potter collide. Imagine all the insanity they can get into armed with a knowledge from the Books and Muggle technology—And still very mischievous minds—inside not only Hogwarts grounds, but the magical world._

Inspired by the infamous list of 586/807 things I'm not allowed to do at Hogwarts; going by Lexicon time line; book publishing dates moved up; yaddayadda... Feel free to chime in with ideas and what-not along the way!

_Remus – Teenager; Lupin – Adult_

-pokes her head in- … -slips inside- Uh. Hi! Look! -holds up several sheets of paper- I finished the chapter! Eheheh... I know it's waaaaay past due. But life has been hectic, and revealing our trio to Harry was a hard hurtle to jump over. So this might be a bit messy of a chapter, but I did include one of the things from the list for some fun! And in the next chapter you can look forward to some genuine trouble-making on behalf of the dear, dear Marauders. Things will start moving faster after this in the story, but I'm hoping to have some fun with the boys over the summer before we move onto Hogwarts.

Thank you everyone for your patience! I hope you all enjoy the chapter! And please, if you see anything that might need correcting feel free to drop me a line with that Review button. And if you don't see anything that might need correcting, drop me a line anyway and let me know how you liked the chappy. ^^ Constructive criticism is, as always, welcome. Flames with be doused with water then buried with dirt.

Oh, and if anyone has any ideas as to what this lot can get up to around Privet Drive, feel free to hand in your suggestions. Or requests for what number from the list you want to appear (keep in mind that it needs to be applicable outside of the school right now, though). This chapter contains number 273 as a funny reference and future chapters will be better centered on the list.

**Disclaimer:**_I do not own Harry Potter (J.K Rowling), or the List (kupika's Demonic_Angel and a multitude of others). I'm simply using them for my amusement and the amusement of others._

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**Chapter V**

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"_Well, I think we all know what we have to do."_

Sirius, or rather, Padfoot was crouched in bushes just outside of Number Four, Privet Drive. Inside the house he could hear a ruckus being made by the boys who were supposedly over for 'tea'. His tail wagged back and forth adamantly as he waited, listening rather intently for the signal from Remus. A signal from a dog whistle that only he would hear, of course. As soon as it sounded, it was the over-excitable dog's job to bound around the garden and make enough ruckus to lure everyone out of the house. Then James would come bounding over under the Invisibility Cloak and mess around a bit before grabbing Harry.

What happened, though, was entirely different from what they had planned. There was a series of yells from inside the house and suddenly, in what to Padfoot sounded like an explosion, Harry burst out of the front door followed by about five other, larger boys. It was a startling event, to watch them all chase the smaller boy through the garden and out onto the street. A large, round looking one (easily the biggest of the group) was shouting instructions to the others until finally, they seemed to have cornered Harry down the street in front of an alley. Sirius watched for a moment before turning and bounding back to where he knew the others were hiding, shifting out of his animagus form as soon as he was out of sight of any Muggle passerby.

"Change of plans, mates. Harry's in trouble." He gestured for James to put the cloak away before turning and hurrying out of their hiding spot.

James slipped into step beside him and Remus on the messy haired boys' other side, the three of them walking quickly but calmly towards the group. So far, nothing had happened and it seemed like the gang was simply tossing insults back and forth with Harry. It was surprising how sharp the other wizards tongue was as well as how calm he managed to look. Sirius could tell, however, that the other teen had no idea how to get out of the mess he was in. That would be where the Marauders would have to step in, reaching the scene just as one of the larger boys started to move forward.

"Oy! What's going on over here, mates?" James called out as soon as he noted the movement, causing all attention to shift towards the three of them.

It must have been an intimidating sight, because the five boys eyes widened and they all took a few steps back. James raised an eyebrow and glanced down at himself curiously. They weren't dressed oddly, were they? He had pulled on a black t-shirt with some muggle band across it and matched it with some worn-down jeans and sneakers. Nothing that weird. Remus was wearing an old brown jacket over a plain white tee, also with jeans and sneakers and Sirius—had changed into Padfoot again and was baring his teeth rather unpleasantly at the group. Oh, well, that would explain quite a bit.

"Keep that mutt of yours away from us, shrimp!" The gang leader suddenly seemed to gain the courage to snap, his face having turned a strange shade of purple, "Or I'll pound it to a pulp!"

"Hey," Remus' eyes narrowed slightly to show irritation despite his calm tone, "don't you have any manners? He hasn't done anything, yet, you know."

"Yeah, not yet." James, never one to take threats very well, crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the boy challengingly. "I don't think he likes you, though. Huh, Pads?"

Padfoot barked in response, darting forward a few paces before leaping back again. All the boys yelled and backed off a few more paces except Harry, who seemed to be a bit too preoccupied with staring to care. James grinned at the group and reached down to pat the top of the dog's head. He nuzzled into the hand briefly, but didn't relax, still growling threateningly; mainly towards the largest of the group now. Oh no, he didn't like being threatened either.

"I'm warning you, put that bloody thing on a leash before you find him hanging from a tree somewhere!"

This time, James actually let out a small growl of annoyance. What luck to encounter such a jerk so soon. Smirking suddenly, he shrugged. "Have it your way, then. Padfoot, sic'em."

Barking loudly, the large black dog quite eagerly bounded forward towards the group and sent them scattering. There were various yells as the boys bounded in different directions. None of them turned back to see if they were the one that the dog was after. None except the large one, whom Padfoot was adamantly chasing around until with a wail he ran back into Number Four, Privet Drive. It wasn't hard to hear the cries for his mum as he went, nor the following yells about a rabid dog.

Before Petunia Dursley even made it to the window, Sirius was back to his normal self and had joined his friends and Harry in the mouth of the alley. Well out of sight of the woman's critical gaze, he adjusted his leather jacket over the black muscle shirt and then fixed the belt of his pants, which were also black. Sirius was definitely the most intimidating looking of the group, having opted to try out what he deemed to be 'rocker style' after they had flipped through some muggle mags (Dumbledore had sent them so the boys could see the 'current style' for muggles). Of course, Remus and James were certain that this idea had come from Bill Weasley's outfit from earlier.

"Well, that was fun. Wish I could've gotten a bite in, though." The dark-haired boy muttered casually once he was done fixing his appearance.

"Nah, you wouldn't be able to get rid of the taste of lard for weeks, mate." James countered smoothly, grinning, "Besides, it looks like he may have wet his breeches anyways."

"Hah, good point. Anyways!" Sirius turned his attention towards Harry and paused, frowning slightly at the stunned expression the boy was wearing on his features, "Er... You alright, mate?"

The other two in the group also turned slightly worried gazes towards the frighteningly skinny boy. He simply kept staring at them before seeming to snap out of it, shaking his head and taking a few paces back from the three teens before him. A confused expression overcame the stunned one and was then taken over by a mistrustful one.

"Who _are_ you?" Harry demanded quite suddenly, glaring suspiciously at the three of them, "And why are you here?"

"Not very friendly in person, is he?" Sirius muttered, crossing his arms and glancing over to his friends. He had been at least expecting a thank you.

"Can you really blame him, Pads? I mean, after what just happened and everything that full Moony told us..." James shook his head, raising his arms in a helpless gesture, "I don't think I'd be very friendly either, mate."

"Try to see it how Harry must be seeing it." Remus agreed, offering the wary teen before them a small smile, "I imagine that with our appearance and the normal impossibility of something like what has occurred to us happening... It becomes impossible to believe in what the signs are pointing at."

There was a loud, drawn out sigh from the Black heir and he rubbed the back of his neck before propping both arms up behind his head. An obviously thoughtful look came over his features as Sirius stared up at the sky. How could they explain everything, _again_, but in a way that would stave off the suspicion that was radiating off Harry? Better yet, where would they do it that Muggles would be unlikely to see but the other teen would agree to going? It was unimaginable that he would agree to returning to their current home with things as they were now—in fact, Sirius believed that even suggesting it would set off red flags for the other.

"...How about we go to that park we saw earlier, then? It didn't look like the kind of place that Muggles would like to hang around much. And transforming would be easy with that grouping of trees nearby." He finally spoke, looking back at the others. When they gave him a set of confused looked, he rolled his eyes, "Well, we're not going to stay here to talk, are we? Don't want that Muggle group to drag their parents here and still be hanging around."

"...For once, Padfoot, you're thinking ahead. Amazing." Remus commented with a sudden smile, earning himself a light punch from the other and laughing softly, "Alright, then. If it's okay with you, Harry, of course. I think I saw some places we could sit there, too."

Harry stared between the three teenage wizards before him, not quite sure what to say. At the mention of relocating to the park with them to talk, though, his mind started calculating the pros and cons of such an idea. It was obvious that the long haired boy that looked a lot like Sirius (he ignored that they were all using the Marauders nicknames) had put a lot of thought into it. Was that because they were setting a trap, or because he was trying to keep them on neutral ground? Something told him that it was the latter.

"...Fine. But once we get there, you're going to answer my questions." He waited for a nod from each of them, ignoring the eye roll from the Sirius look-a-like, "Come on, then."

With that, Harry turned and moved out of the alley, heading in the straightest path towards the park. Normally Dudley and his gang hung around there, but after what had happened... Well, it was doubtful that any of them would be leaving their homes. Or, at least, that they would be coming around wherever they saw these three teens. That made the chances of the park being empty a lot higher, but if this summer was anything like that last (and he was sure it was), then there would be an Order member tailing him. It was safer to stay out in the open, without Muggles around, in case things got dangerous.

By the time they reached the park, Harry had formed a plan in his head. If these blokes were really friendly, then they would understand his next actions. Possibly even let him go through with it without a fight. After all, they obviously knew him even if he had no clue who they were (he refused to listen to that stupid voice telling him otherwise). Therefore upon reaching the swings, turned to fully face them.

"_Expelliarmus!" _Three wands jumped into the air and flew towards Harry. He caught them deftly and examined the expressions of the three strange teenagers. The one that looked rather like himself seemed exasperated while the Sirius lookalike was openly irritated and the last one—the honey brunette seemed as though he were trying not to laugh.

"Are you _quite_ finished being a paranoid git?" Sirius asked, crossing his arms moodily. If not for James, the bloke would have never gotten the Black heirs highly prized wand from him. They had all known it would come; any intelligent wizard would never let three potential threats stay armed. Especially if they were out numbered; but still, he had not wanted to give up his wand so willingly.

"No." Sitting in the only good swing, Harry placed the three wands in his lap and kept his at ready, "Who are you?"

"Well, there's a question we've been answering a lot." Rolling his eyes, the long haired teen turned to look at his best friend, "He's just going to attack us, and now we won't have any way to defend ourselves."

"I doubt Harry is the type to attack someone disarmed."

"Yeah right, not if he's your blood."

"Hey!" James bristled, his features shifting into a decidingly unbecoming pout, "I wouldn't attack anyone if they were unarmed. Not really."

"Oh yeah? What about Snivellus, huh?" Sirius countered, grinning at successfully luring his friend into bickering with him.

"That's not attacking. And Snivellus doesn't really count, you know." Sniffing, the leader of the group turned back to Harry and blinked at the stormy expression that the other boy was wearing, "Oy, what's up?"

"Stop it. Stop acting like them and tell me who you really are." The Boy-Who-Lived demanded in a quiet voice that signaled what Peter would have called the calm before the storm.

"Acting like who? We're not acting like anyone, mate." Sirius replied, tilting his head and grinning innocently, "We are who we are. Bit of a rush, huh? We thought so."

"Pads, slow down. Give the bloke a chance to comprehend." Remus admonished before turning to look at Harry and asking, "Who do you _think_ we are, Harry?"

Harry blinked, then frowned in thought. Their words were swirling around in his head and suddenly he felt grateful for having the foresight to sit down. The image of Snape's memory came to the forefront of his mind, "You remind me... Of..." Snapping out of it, he shook his head and glared at them, raising his wand, "But that's not possible! You're too young and two of them are dead! Voldemort must really be losing his touch if he thinks he can get me with such a poor plan."

"But that's just the thing, innit?" James countered, grinning and raising his arms in a shrug, "_He_ would never think to send three of his little Death Eaters disguised as the Marauders. No one that dim would have made it as the most feared wizard in the age, right?"

"Er... I guess not." Still wary, Harry narrowed his eyes at the three, "But that still doesn't change the fact that what you want me to believe is bloody _impossible_. You can't bring back the dead! Sure, you can de-age someone, but not bring them back from death. And _you_ two." He gestured between James and Sirius with his wand, "Are _dead_."

"Yeah, tell us about it." Sirius grumbled, crossing his arms, "Bloody disappointment, that was. All my brains and smarts... And my older self ends up killed by bloody drapery—with the assist of my crazy bint of a cousin."

It took all of Harry's control not to curse the teen right then and there. How dare he speak so casually of Sirius! Underplaying his death like that! His blood boiled but in the end, composure won out. For some reason, a part of him really had no wish to hurt these three. They seemed friendly and had not so much as raised a finger to try and hurt him. Not yet, at least. Still, they were practically making a joke out of him.

"...Look. You lot may think this is funny and all that, but I don't. You've had your laugh at the 'Boy-Who-Bloody-Well-Lived', so why don't you just get lost?" Standing from the swing, Harry tossed their wands towards them and turned to leave again. He knew Mad-Eye would wring his neck if he ever heard that 'Potter' had turned his back to three armed strangers, but he was past the point of caring.

"Funny? Oy! No one ever said anything about a joke, mate!" James frowned, grabbing his wand and hurrying after the other boy, "Look, we _are_ the Marauders! If you'd just stop denying it and let us prove it to you, then we could explain the how!"

"As best we understand it ourselves, at least." Remus called after as he and Sirius trailed behind their friend and his (future) son. "Harry! Just ask us a question only we would know. Go on."

By this point Harry had stopped, allowing the trio to catch up. Slowly, he turned back around to face them. There was a reluctantly thoughtful expression on his features as he eyed the other teens. They waited expectantly, Sirius fidgeting and twirling his wand in his hand while James ran his through his hair. Remus was, unsurprisingly, the only one who stayed still. Harry's brow furrowed, obviously thinking hard for a question that he could ask three teenage versions of the Marauders. Finally, though, he gained a faint smile and snapped his fingers.

"After the Defense O.W.L., James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin had an exchange about a question on the test. What was it?" There. No one but them would know that exactly, right? They had to be sixth years, like himself, now. Which meant they would remember the entire event clearly if they really were who they claimed to be.

"What? That's easy, O.W.L.s just ended. I asked 'Did you like question ten, Moony?'" Sirius piped, turning to Remus with a grin, "And he said..."

" 'Loved it. _Give five signs that identify a werewolf. _Excellent question.' " Remus recalled, a fond look on his face as James shook his head and recalled his own comment.

" 'D'you think you managed to get all the signs?' " He was even able to manage the mock tone of concern that he had given before.

" 'Think I did.' " Now Remus was grinning, trying to keep his tone completely serious as he had before, " 'One: he's sitting on my chair. Two: he's wearing my clothes. Three: his name's Remus Lupin.' " (_Quoted from OotP page 567, Chapter 'Snape's Worst Memory')_

Then, all of a sudden, Sirius' bark-like laugh filled the air. It served to break the restraints on his two friends, all three of them ending up in a strange pile on the ground. Suddenly, though, the laughter died out as they remembered their fourth member. James' expression darkened as he disentangled himself from the other two and stood up. The thought of Peter had sobered them right up, reminding them just how Harry got in his current situation. Speaking of Harry. Currently, James found him staring gobsmacked at them. Smiling in amusement and trying to erase the previous thoughts from his mind, James leaned forward and waved.

"Good to meet ya, mate. We can't believe it, either. Dumbledore and the Moonies, though, came up with a good idea of an explanation." When he got no response from the other, James pushed on, "It's quite a long story. The Order—that's what it's called, right?—got us a place to stay, all on our own."

"Right next to your house, actually." Remus added, finishing dusting himself off, "We should probably head back that way before the Ministry shows up. They've taken an exceptionally long time to respond to your underage magic."

"Yeah... Hey, Moony, d'you think that maybe whatever is keeping us from being Traced is cloaking Harry while he's with us, too?" Sirius twirled his wand, a thoughtful frown on his features, "I mean, it would have to. Right? Otherwise we can't do magic with him around. That would put a real damper on our plans."

"Plans? What plans?" Harry asked, immediately gaining that wary feeling again as he snapped out of shock.

"Well, to make you a Marauder, of course!" Sirius beamed, grinning and slinging an arm around the shorter boy, "After all, from what we've heard about you from the adults... Well, you fit right in with us!"

"A lot more than Pete." James muttered darkly, barely reigning in control of his scowl. He had to keep reminding himself that this was a different universe. There was a good chance that what had happened here would never have in his reality. Still, it hurt to think about, "Besides, it's in your blood, you know!"

"Me a Marauder? I don't know..." Harry provided in a half-hearted form of protest, but it was quite obvious that he was excited by the concept of joining in the group of troublemakers.

The teen was practically glowing, unbeknownst to him. The three friends exchanged a knowing glance before leading the way back to their current home, Sirius keeping his arm around Harry's shoulders. Within minutes they were inside. Harry detached himself from the others and moved to look around. He made a quick tour of the ground floor, ending up in the living room staring at the various pictures that the trio had put up. At some point between the exchange at the park and now, he had found himself slipping into believing the truth of it and now... Looking at the pictures it seemed as though he had no other choice but to accept what they were telling him. Still.

"...You said you would explain once we got back here." Harry turned back towards the three and found that Sirius had sprawled out over the couch (and Remus, who had sat down before him) while James had taken up an arm chair. They were all watching him with faint amusement, "Er... Well, we're here and I'd fancy hearing that explanation..."

"...But you want to have someone from the Order here to help explain, too?" Remus offered, grinning despite himself.

"There's a pot of floo powder on the fireplace. Feel free to give them a ring." Sirius waved a hand lazily, also smiling. His earlier annoyance at Harry's paranoia seemed to have vanished completely. "Try Moody or big Moony. Oh, or that Weasley bloke who brought my bike. What was his name, again?"

"Bill." James offered, grinning and sitting up, "D'you think he'll come back? Full Moony seemed a bit upset at him earlier... And I think he went to work."

"Damn."

Harry smiled faintly at their exchange before shaking his head and grinning, "I know someone. Another Weasley, actually. I think you'll like him." That said, he turned and tossed a small handful of floo powder into the fireplace and calling "The Burrow!" before sticking his head into the midst of the flames. Almost reminiscent of that June, when... The thought was cut off by the sound of Mrs. Weasley's voice calling out to him.

"Harry dear! What a surprise! What's wrong—where are you? Those muggles of yours don't have floo, do th-"

"No, Mrs. Weasley. I'm at a...Friend's. Sorry to worry you but everything's fine... Er... Is Mr. Weasley here?" Harry cut across the motherly woman's words hurriedly, doing his best to act as though everything really was okay. Which, it was. He was simply.. Overwhelmed. "I'd really like for him to help me clear something up."

"Oh, yes, he just got home. Arthur! Harry's on the floo!" Once she finished calling for her husband, Mrs. Weasley turned back to examine the teen worriedly, "Are you quite sure everything is okay, dear? You look quite shaken... And tired. Have you been sleeping right, Harry dear? Are those muggles feeding you properly?"

"Er..." Feeling his face heat up, Harry was relieved from answering the questions by the arrival of Mr. Weasley. After a quick exchange to reassure them that yes, everything was alright, he bid farewell to Mrs. Weasley and yanked his head out of the fireplace, moving aside so that Mr. Weasley could step out of it a moment later.

The adult looked around himself for a moment, trying to decipher where he was exactly before his gaze landed on the trio lounging in the room. At this point his eyes lit up, "Ahh... I thought that was what this was all about. It's not like Harry to wander into a wizarding place when everything is 'fine'. Hello, boys. I've heard quite a lot about you. Arthur Weasley, at your service."

"So, you do know them?" Harry asked, straightening up expectantly, "Mr. Weasley, what they're telling me is true?"

"Well, I don't know what they're telling you Harry-"

James cut across their exchange, "Actually, we haven't really explained it fully yet. I'm guessing that Professor Dumbledore must have filled you in, though, sir."

"If you two sit down, we'll get started." Sirius gestured to the two vacant arm chairs. Though, he was looking thoughtfully at Arthur as he spoke. As if the man had reminded him suddenly of someone else. He shook the feeling off and continued, "It feels like we've been repeating ourselves a lot, so I'm just gonna let Moony catch you up."

"Agreed." James piped up, smiling, "Moony, if you'd do the honors."

Waiting only long enough for their guests to take a seat, Remus shot into a rather long but detailed recount of events up until the point that Harry had asked Arthur to come. He went so far only for the adult's sake, as everyone else was present for the last bit of it and didn't need it to be repeated. Every so often Sirius or James would chime in to provide some kind of helpful (so they claimed) comment. Soon enough, though, everyone was caught up and the three friends were waiting quietly for some kind of reaction from the two guests sitting before them.

A heavy silence hung in the air before Harry fell back against his chair and sighed, "I need a drink."

"Harry." Arthur immediately admonished, before shaking his head and smiling faintly. The three friends were grinning, of course, as the wizard raised his wand and summoned them all butterbeers from the kitchen (which was met by surprised cries from the Marauders, who had yet to realize their pantry and kitchen was fully stocked), "I'll admit when Dumbledore called Kingsley and myself into his office and told us about you three, I didn't fully believe him. But now..."

"Yeah. It seems a lot of people have trouble believing even when proof is right before their eyes." Sirius grumbled good-naturedly before taking a long draft from his bottle. "But, there you have it, Harry. The Headmaster believes us and he obviously informed the Order already."

"Nothing left to do but believe us, too, ey Harry?" James grinned around his own drink, winking at his friends. "Sorry to have startled you like that outside, we honestly didn't plan for you to find out that way. But I guess Padfoot just couldn't contain himself at the sight of those louts ganging up on you like that."

"You're bloody right I couldn't!" Swinging his legs off from where they had been laying across Remus' lap, Sirius sat up straight and glared at his friend, "Who the hell gangs up on someone who's defenseless like that? I know we gang up on Snivellus at times, but we only outnumber him two to one and he always starts out with his wand to fight back!"

"Pad, it's al-"

"It's not alright! That tub of lard is lucky I didn't catch up to him. I still say I'd like to take a chunk outta him." Having worked himself up with the subject, Sirius stood and started pacing, obviously fuming.

"Geeze, Padfoot, you're acting like you did the time your brothe-"

"_Don't_. Bring Regulus into this. Please. I can't even..." Rubbing his temples, the long haired teen heaved a sigh of frustration, "Harry... No offense, mate, but you just look so... Small. I felt bad for you after meeting you as Padfoot; and then when full Moony filled us in, I guess it made me feel worse. We don't really know you well, but watching that group gang up on you was like watching my little brother...Ergh. It just..."

"It's okay." Harry blinked a few times, finally finding his voice after the initial surprise he'd experienced at the sudden outburst. Shaking his head, he gave a faint smile, "Really. I'm used to it. A-and, it's nice of you to be so...Er..."

"Protective? Anal? Insane?" James offered, grinning. A successful attempt to lighten the atmosphere, as Sirius choked back a snicker and moved over to shove his shoulder. "Really, though, Pads. I was mad, too. We might not know Harry personally, yet, but the fact of the matter is that we had decided to make him one of us when we set out to introduce ourselves to him."

"Provided you were willing, of course." Remus told Harry, cutting cleanly across his friend, "After everything we heard, well. It sounded as though you would need some pleasant company for the summer."

"Yeah. Don't get us wrong, mate, we're not just doing this because you're related to James or anything like that." Sirius paused, then grinned and tilted his head, "Though, that's definitely part of it. But the fact of the matter is that you seem like the kind of guy who should have friends around all the time, not just during term. We're in the best spot to provide that."

"Plus, we'll need some friends when term comes around. Actually, we'll need some friends in this place period. Might as well start with someone we know we like already." James chimed in, grinning, "And you know we aren't just going to hang around you because you're the 'boy-who-bloody-well-lived' as you so nicely put it. Since we-"

"I think he gets it, you guys." Remus cut in again, rolling his eyes and smiling at Harry. "Simply put, we'd greatly appreciate it if you accepted our offer to be friends."

"O-of course." Was the only reply Harry could get out. He wasn't sure what he felt about all their reasoning out why he should join their ranks, but he found himself grateful for Remus' timely injection. "I'd be bonkers not to, after all this."

"Well, now that that's settled, I think Molly might be working up a storm of worry. I'll be getting home now." Arthur stood, beaming, "Look after yourself, Harry. Boys. Don't go getting into too much trouble; I doubt Dumbledore'll like that, ey?" He winked at them and started towards the fireplace before pausing and turning back, "Oh, Harry. I expect you'll want to fill Ron in yourself?"

"Oh. Yeah." Straightening at the mention of his best friend, Harry suddenly looked unsure of himself, "Mr. Weasley, d'you think..."

"I believe he'll understand just fine. Hermione, too. Not a worry, Harry. Not a worry. We're planning a trip to Diagon in a week, why don't you boys join us? I daresay Hermione will be there as well."

"Brilliant." Harry beamed, nodding, "I'd love to, sir."

"We'll come. I want to check out that joke shop... Without the risk of attack, mind you." James chimed in, grinning. "I s'pose those twins would be a right laugh to be around, once everything is straightened out."

"Splendid. Simply splendid. I'll let Molly and the kids know. Expect a letter tonight, Harry."

"Yes sir. Thanks a ton."

Shaking his head and claiming once more that it was no problem at all, Arthur vanished into the green flames of the fireplace. This left the four teens to themselves in the small living room, quietly sipping at their butterbeer and wondering just how much they could get up to in the course of the week. At least, that's what three of them were thinking about. Several minutes passed in silence before Sirius straightened up and asked, with all the innocence in the world.

"Say, Harry, there was a little tv-like thing on the desk in that bookstore... Any chance that you could fill us in on what it was, exactly?"

"A small... A computer?"

"Oh, is that what it was? Sure, then. Can you tell us more about it?"

By now the other two were listening with rapt interest, all three waiting for the response of the smaller boy. Harry looked between them all warily, thinking to himself for a few moments before smiling.

"Well, I could tell you about it... Or we could go to the library and I'll just show you. They have computers there for public u-" He wasn't able to finish his sentence before both James and Sirius whooped in triumph.

"Brilliant. We can go tomorrow; it's already getting late here." Remus stated, smiling, "But for now, we should probably get to work on something to eat. Want to stay for dinner, Harry?"

"Yeah. Brilliant." Finally starting to settle into the idea of gaining the three wayward Marauders as friends, Harry found himself grinning and getting a bit more comfortable in his seat. After a pause, though, it occurred to him to ask, "...Do any of you even know how to cook?"

All he got in response was some sheepish grins and shrugs. Remus rolled his eyes, "I'm sure we could... Manage something."

"I'll help. I used to cook for the Dursleys, and Mrs. Weasley lets me help around the kitchen sometimes at the Burrow. Maybe together we can come up with something edible."

"Or, or." Sirius held up his hands, motioning for the others to stop in their tracks. "Orrrrr. We could remember that Dumbledore let us bring that Dobby elf along with us and see if he could whip something up that we _know_ will be edible."

"Did you say Dobby was here?" Looking around as if expecting to find the elf right behind him, Harry paused then called out almost hesitantly, "Dobby?"

POP! "Mister Harry Potter called for Dobby, sir? Oh, Dobby is so glad to be seeing Harry Potter again!"

"Er... Yeah. Hi, Dobby. Good to see you again, too." Smiling, Harry lifted a hand to wave at the creature but a foot in front of him.

"Did Harry Potter need something from Dobby, sir? Dobby would be most honored to help Harry Potter!"

"Yeah, uh, Dobby, do you think you could make us some dinner? None of us are very great cooks-"

"Dinner, dinner! Yes! Dobby will get started on dinner for Harry Potter and his friends immediately!" Without waiting for a response, the elf snapped his fingers and vanished with yet another POP!

"You _know_ the elf?" Sirius asked, bewildered by the very idea of being on friendly terms with a house elf of all things. James just rolled his eyes at his friend, unwilling to admit that he was interested in the new development as well. "He seemed to really like you. Couldn't even in a word in edge-wise."

"Yeah, well. It's a long story... I freed him from the Malfoy's, actually." Harry replied, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I'll have to tell you about it; Mr. Malfoy was furious."

"I bet. Sounds like something that would make Haldir really angry." Sirius rolled his eyes, "He's so stuck up."

"...'Haldir'?' Harry asked, taking pause to the sudden change in names, "From Lord of the Rings?"

"Yeah! Did you read those? I used to call my cousin that all the time; drove him nuts to be called an elf-name. Of course I didn't tell him it wasn't the same kind as a house elf." Snickering, Sirius shrugged and sighed wistfully as if wishing he could relive something, "I remember the first time I called him that, too. Really sent him for a loop. Then of course I had to explain it was because he looked like an elf from this muggle book I was reading and-"

"And we spent the next half hour trying to undo the langlock jinx he put on you." Remus finished for him, receiving a charming grin in reply.

"It was worth it. Did I ever thank you for being so good at counter curses?"

"Never did thank Snivellus for teaching that to blondy..." James muttered almost thoughtfully before shaking his head, "I don't suppose we could do it now. Wouldn't be the same."

"Snape would probably outdo you all in this time. No offense but, well..." Harry shrugged, "He's pretty frightening when he's really putting his mind to something. I've never really seen him in a real duel or anything like that aside from the time he disarmed both Sirius and Lupin in the shrieking shack, but..."

"Yeah." Sighing, James shook his head in a sign of defeat, "We all knew that Snivellus would grow up as a force to be reckoned with, but I figured that so would be. Now the tables are turned against us and, well, we'll just have to get creative."

"You can bet that he'll do his best to make life miserable for us during term. We'll have to put aside plenty of plans to get back at him with." Sirius chimed in, suddenly gaining a wicked gleam in his eye. "I'm sure there's plenty of things for us to do. Don't worry, Prongs. Besides, in the end you _did_ get Evans."

"Well, my future self did at least. But yeah, we can start planning things for term early. Just because we're not in exactly familiar waters doesn't mean that we can't still have fun." Nodding to himself, the leader of the group grinned and turned to Harry suddenly, "Besides, we have a fresh mind to contribute to our antics now. Gotta make use of it, you know. And I'm sure that Harry's friends would get a kick out of helping too, once we meet up with them. You will introduce us, right Harry?"

"Of course! Ron and Hermione'll never believe me if I don't introduce you guys. And Ron'll definitely help come up with ideas; Fred and George are his brothers so he's bound to have good ideas. Hermione might not approve at first, but I'm sure she'll warm up to the idea." He smiled sheepishly, "She's a bit of a stickler for the rules."

"Sounds like Remus was when we first started our mischief making." Sirius stated, reaching over to nudge the honey blond playfully, "He was a real stick in the mud at first, scared of getting expelled. After the first couple of rounds, though, he started giving us ideas to help make things safer and less..."

"Destructive? Promising of capture? Smarter? Subtle? Surprising?" Remus offered up, eyes alight with good humor, "We all know that my contributions made the pranks far better than they were when it was just you two behind the wheel."

"Yeah, yeah, stop gloating."

They continued chatting and exchanging stories up to and throughout dinner and, after deciding that Harry was better off just staying over, well into the night. By the time any of them fell asleep it wasn't in the rooms upstairs, but sprawled about the living room with a fire crackling still in the fireplace. The next morning they would sneak Harry into his room at the Dursley's so he could make them believe he had been there the entire night before whisking away to begin their week of adventure and learning at the library. Given that they had to catch up on twenty one years in both the muggle and wizarding world, they had stuck Harry as their all too willing guide.

Seeing as their leap to catch up with the times was starting with computers and Harry knew only basic things about the items himself, there was bound to be some fun to come from it.


End file.
